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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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468
Word bank
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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. swing — to play on
  3. band — a ring
  4. squash — to crush
  5. kid — to tease
  6. rule — government
  7. squash — the sport
  8. kid — child
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. swing — in golf
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. land — a country
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. rule — a law
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. land — to come down
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. band — a music group
  21. swing — music
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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