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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: nail · mine · chest · cold · can · band · ball · bound

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. band — a music group
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. can — a tin
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. ball — a great time
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. mine — for digging
  15. band — a ring
  16. can — to be able to
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. can — a tin
  19. bound — obliged
  20. bound — tied together
  21. bound — certain
  22. ball — a dance
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — a box

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