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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: march · wind · land · band · dip · coach · trunk · pound

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. land — a country
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. march — the month
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. pound — a weight
  10. wind — moving air
  11. land — ground
  12. band — a music group
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. march — the month
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. wind — moving air
  21. march — music
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. land — to come down
  24. dip — to sink

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