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

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. bat — the animal
  4. game — wild animals
  5. field — farmland
  6. land — ground
  7. wax — to grow
  8. bass — low music
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. field — for sport
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. field — a subject
  18. band — a ring
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. game — a match
  21. land — to come down
  22. bass — the fish
  23. band — a music group
  24. nail — for a hammer

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