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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. tube — the underground
  3. bat — the animal
  4. band — a ring
  5. spell — a short time
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. band — a music group
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. chest — of your body
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. press — to push
  12. spell — letters
  13. press — a publisher
  14. spell — magic
  15. fork — in a road
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — a box
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. tube — a container
  22. press — newspapers
  23. pitch — completely
  24. tube — in a tire

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