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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. hand — help
  3. last — to go on
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. last — finally
  6. season — in sport
  7. band — a music group
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. hand — in cards
  11. land — a country
  12. capital — money
  13. land — to come down
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. season — of the year
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. land — ground
  18. band — a ring
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. last — final
  24. pitch — completely

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