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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. field — farmland
  4. row — to paddle
  5. band — a ring
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. pop — soda
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wind — moving air
  10. field — for sport
  11. tube — the underground
  12. wind — moving air
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. band — a music group
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. wound — an injury
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. tube — a container
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. wound — an injury
  21. field — a subject
  22. pop — to visit
  23. row — a line
  24. band — a rubber band

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