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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 116 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. kid — child
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. band — a music group
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. face — to point toward
  7. bat — the animal
  8. face — part of the head
  9. march — the month
  10. band — a ring
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. face — to confront
  13. court — of a king
  14. kid — to tease
  15. scale — size or range
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. court — for sport
  18. march — music
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. court — of law
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. march — the month
  24. scale — in music

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