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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. band — a music group
  3. field — for sport
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. hand — in cards
  7. content — the amount
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. bass — the fish
  10. fork — in a road
  11. present — the time now
  12. present — there
  13. field — a subject
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. hand — help
  16. band — a ring
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. content — happy
  19. bass — low music
  20. stock — goods
  21. present — a gift
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. field — farmland
  24. content — videos and posts

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