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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. land — a country
  4. bass — low music
  5. race — humankind
  6. race — the arms race
  7. game — a match
  8. swing — in golf
  9. land — ground
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. bass — the fish
  12. race — a contest
  13. swing — to play on
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. game — wild animals
  16. swing — music
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. land — to come down

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