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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: hand · wound · suit · date · straw · drill · band · snap

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. When will it ________________ you to start?
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. hand — help
  3. wound — an injury
  4. suit — to fit
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. drill — army training
  7. wound — an injury
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. hand — in cards
  11. suit — clothes
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. drill — a practice
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. date — the fruit
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. drill — the tool
  19. suit — in cards
  20. snap — to click
  21. band — a ring
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. date — on the calendar

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