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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 116 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: cold · bat · board · fan · band · kid · rule · lash

  1. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. rule — a law
  3. band — a music group
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. band — a ring
  7. kid — child
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cold — not warm
  14. board — a committee
  15. rule — government
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. cold — an illness
  19. kid — to tease
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. bat — the animal
  23. board — to get on
  24. bat — in an idiom

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