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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 120 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: rest · stand · band · cold · vault · bat · spell · kid

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. stand — to bear
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — to tease
  6. rest — what's left
  7. bat — the animal
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. spell — magic
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. spell — letters
  12. rest — a break
  13. rest — what's left
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. spell — a short time
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. vault — a safe
  24. band — a music group

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