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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. court — for sport
  3. swing — music
  4. band — a ring
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. swing — in golf
  8. wind — moving air
  9. band — a music group
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. tube — the underground
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. tear — from crying
  14. swing — to play on
  15. tube — a container
  16. wind — moving air
  17. court — of a king
  18. court — of law
  19. tear — from crying
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. tear — to rip
  22. lie — to recline
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. hand — in cards

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