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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 116 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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. stock — goods
  3. field — farmland
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. fine — all right
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. march — the month
  8. field — a subject
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. rush — hurry
  12. club — for dancing
  13. club — for golf
  14. march — the month
  15. march — music
  16. game — wild animals
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. stock — shares
  19. game — a match
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. field — for sport
  22. fine — high quality
  23. band — a ring
  24. club — a group

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