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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: arm · craft · stock · sharp · band · game · mine · cold

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  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. arm — a part of something
  3. game — wild animals
  4. band — a ring
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. mine — for digging
  8. craft — boats
  9. game — a match
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. cold — an illness
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. cold — not warm
  17. craft — a skill
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. sharp — clever
  20. stock — goods
  21. stock — shares
  22. band — a music group
  23. sharp — with an edge
  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