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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. band — a music group
  3. field — farmland
  4. press — a publisher
  5. march — music
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. band — a ring
  10. bat — the animal
  11. hand — in cards
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — a subject
  14. march — the month
  15. press — newspapers
  16. hand — help
  17. march — the month
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. press — to push
  24. trunk — of a car

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