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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: straw · chair · tear · root · band · content · rush · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. band — a music group
  3. cold — not warm
  4. content — the amount
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. root — the cause
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. tear — from crying
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. rush — hurry
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. root — of a word
  16. content — happy
  17. tear — from crying
  18. root — of a plant
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. tear — to rip
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. chair — a leader
  24. band — a ring

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