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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 is an ace ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. field — farmland
  3. wind — moving air
  4. game — wild animals
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. field — for sport
  7. bass — low music
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. rash — a series
  10. band — a music group
  11. rash — hasty
  12. field — a subject
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. band — a ring
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. bass — the fish
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. game — a match
  23. sharp — clever
  24. wind — moving air

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