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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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. band — a ring
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. wound — an injury
  9. capital — money
  10. wound — an injury
  11. band — a music group
  12. field — a subject
  13. capital — a city
  14. field — for sport
  15. bulb — for light
  16. toast — bread
  17. row — a line
  18. field — farmland
  19. row — to paddle
  20. bulb — for light
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. craft — a skill
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. craft — boats

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