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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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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. saw — the tool
  5. band — a music group
  6. saw — the tool
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. current — happening now
  11. march — the month
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — a subject
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. bat — the animal
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. march — music
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. field — farmland
  22. current — of water
  23. current — electric
  24. band — a ring

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