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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. field — for sport
  3. field — farmland
  4. band — a ring
  5. kid — child
  6. kick — in football
  7. band — a music group
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. branch — a division
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. field — a subject
  14. perch — the fish
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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