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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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. band — a music group
  3. wound — an injury
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. land — ground
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. rock — a stone
  8. bore — to tire
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wound — an injury
  11. pitch — completely
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bore — to drill
  16. rock — music
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. band — a ring
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. bat — the animal
  21. land — a country
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. land — to come down
  24. rock — to move gently

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