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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 120 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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468
Word bank
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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 fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. game — wild animals
  3. band — a ring
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. band — a music group
  9. chest — of your body
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. fork — in a road
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bass — low music
  15. degree — an amount
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. degree — from a university
  18. wind — moving air
  19. degree — temperature
  20. game — a match
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chest — a box
  24. game — a kind of play

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