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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. band — a music group
  5. last — final
  6. fall — to drop
  7. court — of law
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — the animal
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. roll — a cake
  13. last — to go on
  14. mine — for digging
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. roll — a list
  17. fall — to drop
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. court — of a king
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. court — for sport
  22. last — finally
  23. fall — the season
  24. bat — in an idiom

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