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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — ground
  3. band — a ring
  4. net — after costs
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. capital — money
  9. field — for sport
  10. net — in sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. band — a music group
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. land — a country
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. field — farmland
  18. net — for catching
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. capital — a city
  22. bear — the animal
  23. wound — an injury
  24. bear — the animal

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