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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: cap · band · shower · file · chest · wound · club · bound

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cap — a hat
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cap — of ice
  5. shower — to wash
  6. club — for dancing
  7. club — for golf
  8. file — a tool
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. club — a group
  11. file — a line of people
  12. bound — tied together
  13. band — a ring
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — rain
  16. band — a music group
  17. bound — obliged
  18. chest — a box
  19. chest — of your body
  20. cap — a lid
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. wound — an injury
  23. file — a document
  24. bound — certain

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