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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 120 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: pitcher · band · cold · spell · stem · bat · cabinet · tube

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. tube — the underground
  4. spell — letters
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. band — a ring
  8. stem — to come from
  9. spell — a short time
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. spell — magic
  12. tube — a container
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. band — a music group
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. cold — an illness
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. cold — the Cold War

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