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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  9. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. field — farmland
  3. land — a country
  4. tear — to rip
  5. band — a music group
  6. suit — to fit
  7. object — an aim
  8. suit — in cards
  9. suit — clothes
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. land — ground
  12. field — for sport
  13. clip — for paper
  14. field — a subject
  15. object — a thing
  16. clip — a video
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — from crying
  19. land — to come down
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. fork — in a road
  22. clip — to cut
  23. object — to protest
  24. fork — a garden tool

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