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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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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. band — a music group
  3. game — wild animals
  4. band — a ring
  5. court — for sport
  6. saw — the tool
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. spring — the season
  10. bass — the fish
  11. wind — moving air
  12. spring — a coil
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. bass — low music
  15. wind — moving air
  16. file — a line of people
  17. court — of a king
  18. file — a tool
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. file — a document
  21. saw — the tool
  22. game — a match
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. court — of law

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