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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. tear — from crying
  4. capital — a city
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — money
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. field — farmland
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. rock — music
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. tear — from crying
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. tear — to rip
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. field — for sport
  22. band — a ring
  23. rock — a stone
  24. field — a subject

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