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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: deal · band · field · shower · kid · land · chest · tube

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. deal — to handle
  4. field — farmland
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. field — a subject
  7. land — ground
  8. shower — to wash
  9. shower — rain
  10. tube — a container
  11. band — a music group
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. kid — child
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. land — a country
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. chest — of your body
  19. field — for sport
  20. chest — of your body
  21. tube — the underground
  22. kid — to tease
  23. chest — a box
  24. band — a ring

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