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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: game · squash · branch · bat · ground · band

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. ground — crushed
  3. squash — to crush
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. squash — the sport
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. branch — a division
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. ground — a position
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. ground — the earth
  12. band — a music group
  13. band — a ring
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. bat — the animal
  18. game — a match

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