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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's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. ground — a position
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. hand — in cards
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. band — a ring
  8. mine — for digging
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. rash — hasty
  11. ball — a great time
  12. scale — size or range
  13. rash — a series
  14. ground — crushed
  15. scale — in music
  16. hand — help
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. ball — a dance
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. ground — the earth

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