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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: cold · chest · present · drill · band · squash · stand · spell

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. spell — magic
  4. spell — letters
  5. drill — the tool
  6. spell — a short time
  7. drill — a practice
  8. present — the time now
  9. present — a gift
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. band — a music group
  12. chest — of your body
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. chest — a box
  15. drill — army training
  16. present — there
  17. squash — the sport
  18. cold — an illness
  19. stand — to bear
  20. band — a ring
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. cold — not warm
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. squash — to crush

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