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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: band · fall · hand · rash · land · mug · row · fine

  1. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. rash — hasty
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — to drop
  8. row — to paddle
  9. land — a country
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. band — a music group
  12. rash — a series
  13. band — a ring
  14. mug — to rob
  15. land — to come down
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. land — ground
  18. mug — a face
  19. hand — in cards
  20. hand — help
  21. mug — a cup
  22. fine — high quality
  23. fall — the season
  24. row — a line

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