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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. bass — the fish
  4. band — a ring
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. branch — a division
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. cap — of ice
  9. game — a match
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. wax — to grow
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. bass — low music
  14. game — wild animals
  15. land — a country
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. land — ground
  19. band — a music group
  20. cap — a hat
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. cap — a lid
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. bass — the instrument

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