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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. hand — in cards
  3. hand — help
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. land — to come down
  8. file — a line of people
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. craft — a skill
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. file — a tool
  13. land — ground
  14. craft — boats
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. field — a subject
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. field — farmland
  20. file — a document
  21. band — a ring
  22. land — a country
  23. band — a music group
  24. field — for sport

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