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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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 ring
  3. land — ground
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. bat — the animal
  10. spring — a coil
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. spring — of water
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. land — a country
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. spring — the season
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. land — to come down
  24. calf — a young animal

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