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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. swing — to play on
  3. court — for sport
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. game — wild animals
  6. game — a match
  7. field — for sport
  8. swing — in golf
  9. court — of a king
  10. root — of a word
  11. swing — music
  12. pit — a hole
  13. field — farmland
  14. bass — low music
  15. bass — the fish
  16. court — of law
  17. pit — in a race
  18. field — a subject
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. root — of a plant
  21. root — the cause
  22. band — a ring
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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