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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. mate — a partner
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. hand — in cards
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. band — a ring
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. net — in sport
  9. land — ground
  10. net — after costs
  11. mate — to breed
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. mate — a friend
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. hand — help
  16. land — a country
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. net — for catching
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. land — to come down
  23. wax — to grow
  24. band — a music group

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