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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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. mine — for digging
  3. roll — a list
  4. scale — size or range
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. band — a ring
  7. roll — a cake
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. field — a subject
  11. present — a gift
  12. band — a music group
  13. cold — an illness
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. present — there
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — for sport
  21. present — the time now
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. cold — not warm
  24. scale — for weighing

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