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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cell · cold · hand · nail · pop · rash · branch · band

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. hand — help
  3. band — a music group
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pop — soda
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. pop — to visit
  10. rash — a series
  11. branch — a division
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. cell — a phone
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. cold — not warm
  20. pop — music
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. band — a ring
  23. rash — hasty
  24. hand — in cards

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com