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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. land — to come down
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. mine — for digging
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. face — to point toward
  7. face — part of the head
  8. face — to confront
  9. net — for catching
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. net — after costs
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. cap — of ice
  18. net — in sport
  19. land — a country
  20. cap — a lid
  21. band — a music group
  22. cap — a hat
  23. land — ground
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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