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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  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 ring
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. pound — a weight
  4. field — for sport
  5. wound — an injury
  6. chest — a box
  7. band — a music group
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. row — to paddle
  13. row — a line
  14. bear — the animal
  15. wind — moving air
  16. bear — the animal
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wind — moving air
  20. field — farmland
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. chest — of your body
  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