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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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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's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. wind — moving air
  3. spring — the season
  4. pitch — completely
  5. wind — moving air
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. bear — the animal
  8. clip — for paper
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. fork — in a road
  11. clip — a video
  12. band — a ring
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bear — the animal
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. spring — a coil
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. spring — of water
  23. dip — to sink
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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