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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. land — to come down
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. land — ground
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. wound — an injury
  8. mine — for digging
  9. pit — in a race
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. pit — a hole
  12. band — a music group
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. field — farmland
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. shower — to wash
  20. field — for sport
  21. band — a ring
  22. land — a country
  23. wound — an injury
  24. mine — an explosive

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