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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. drill — the tool
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. march — the month
  5. land — ground
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. land — to come down
  8. squash — to crush
  9. march — the month
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. land — a country
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. field — farmland
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. band — a music group
  16. field — a subject
  17. field — for sport
  18. drill — a practice
  19. drill — army training
  20. band — a ring
  21. squash — the sport
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. march — music
  24. squash — the vegetable

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