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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  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. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. game — a match
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. bank — for money
  5. bank — for money
  6. band — a ring
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. wind — moving air
  10. field — for sport
  11. wind — moving air
  12. field — farmland
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. pitch — completely
  15. wound — an injury
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. game — wild animals
  19. bank — of a river
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. wound — an injury
  22. mine — for digging
  23. band — a music group
  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