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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. swing — music
  3. bat — the animal
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. swing — in golf
  8. net — after costs
  9. wind — moving air
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. swing — to play on
  14. last — final
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. band — a ring
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. net — for catching
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. last — finally
  23. last — to go on
  24. net — in sport

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