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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: cap · object · clip · band · row · game · spell · chest

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. cap — a hat
  3. band — a ring
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. object — an aim
  6. spell — a short time
  7. chest — of your body
  8. band — a music group
  9. row — a line
  10. game — wild animals
  11. row — to paddle
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — to cut
  14. spell — magic
  15. cap — a lid
  16. chest — of your body
  17. object — to protest
  18. spell — letters
  19. game — a match
  20. chest — a box
  21. object — a thing
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. clip — for paper

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