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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. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. land — ground
  3. band — a music group
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. land — to come down
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. march — the month
  8. march — the month
  9. bass — the fish
  10. file — a tool
  11. firm — decided
  12. firm — a company
  13. file — a document
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. march — music
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. bass — low music
  21. mark — a trace
  22. land — a country
  23. mark — a grade
  24. band — a ring

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