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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Where did you ________________ them?
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. mug — a cup
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. file — a tool
  5. mug — to rob
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. cell — a phone
  8. band — a ring
  9. court — of a king
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. deal — to handle
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. file — a document
  14. court — of law
  15. court — for sport
  16. club — for golf
  17. field — farmland
  18. file — a line of people
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — a subject
  21. club — for dancing
  22. club — a group
  23. band — a music group
  24. cell — in biology

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