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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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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: deal · race · band · board · spring · cell · shower · tear

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. band — a ring
  3. cell — a phone
  4. tear — from crying
  5. deal — to handle
  6. shower — rain
  7. race — humankind
  8. race — the arms race
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. board — a committee
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. tear — to rip
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. tear — from crying
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. shower — to wash
  19. spring — of water
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. race — a contest
  24. board — to get on

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