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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: spring · stem · rush · band · bound · cold · bowl · content

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. rush — hurry
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. band — a music group
  5. content — the amount
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. spring — of water
  11. bound — certain
  12. spring — a coil
  13. content — happy
  14. bound — tied together
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. spring — the season
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. bound — obliged
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stem — to come from

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