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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: rock · band · arm · file · wound · jam · perch · cold

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. file — a tool
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rock — music
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. file — a line of people
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. perch — the fish
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. band — a music group
  17. wound — an injury
  18. cold — an illness
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. file — a document
  23. rock — a stone
  24. wound — an injury

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