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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: cold · band · stick · mate · cell · swing · bat · object

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. mate — a friend
  4. mate — a partner
  5. swing — music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. object — to protest
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. mate — to breed
  10. object — an aim
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. swing — to play on
  14. object — a thing
  15. swing — in golf
  16. bat — the animal
  17. band — a music group
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cell — a phone
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. band — a ring
  22. cell — in biology
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. cold — an illness

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