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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. capital — money
  6. swing — to play on
  7. swing — music
  8. present — there
  9. field — for sport
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. drill — a practice
  13. drill — army training
  14. swing — in golf
  15. drill — the tool
  16. sharp — clever
  17. field — a subject
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. present — the time now
  21. field — farmland
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. present — a gift
  24. capital — a city

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