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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 116 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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — for sport
  6. swing — in golf
  7. band — a music group
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. rush — hurry
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. rest — a break
  15. field — farmland
  16. rest — what's left
  17. swing — music
  18. kick — in football
  19. bat — the animal
  20. swing — to play on
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. wind — moving air
  23. rest — what's left
  24. kick — a thrill

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