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

Word bank: court · swing · club · tear · band · march

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. tear — from crying
  3. march — music
  4. band — a music group
  5. club — a group
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. march — the month
  8. swing — in golf
  9. court — of a king
  10. club — for golf
  11. court — of law
  12. club — for dancing
  13. tear — from crying
  14. swing — to play on
  15. tear — to rip
  16. court — for sport
  17. march — the month
  18. swing — music

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