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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. file — a tool
  4. degree — from a university
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. cue — a signal
  8. file — a line of people
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. field — a subject
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — an amount
  14. band — a ring
  15. cue — a hint
  16. field — for sport
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. cue — for pool
  19. field — farmland
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. file — a document

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