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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 116 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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. band — a ring
  4. field — for sport
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. field — a subject
  7. prune — to trim
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. march — music
  10. hand — help
  11. march — the month
  12. band — a music group
  13. land — ground
  14. swing — in golf
  15. shower — rain
  16. march — the month
  17. prune — to trim
  18. hand — in cards
  19. shower — to wash
  20. swing — to play on
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. field — farmland
  23. land — a country
  24. land — to come down

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