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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. field — for sport
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. spell — magic
  5. chest — of your body
  6. fine — all right
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. band — a music group
  9. field — a subject
  10. fine — high quality
  11. spell — a short time
  12. ball — a dance
  13. rash — a series
  14. cold — not warm
  15. band — a ring
  16. ball — a great time
  17. chest — of your body
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. rash — hasty
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. field — farmland
  22. spell — letters
  23. chest — a box
  24. cold — an illness

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