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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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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: ruler · object · wind · game · band · wound · rest · chest

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. rest — a break
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. band — a ring
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. wound — an injury
  10. game — a match
  11. object — to protest
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. chest — of your body
  14. rest — what's left
  15. object — a thing
  16. wound — an injury
  17. rest — what's left
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. wind — moving air
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — wild animals
  23. wind — moving air
  24. band — a music group

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