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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 120 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: straw · band · fall · field · spring · squash · hand · rest

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. hand — in cards
  3. fall — to drop
  4. squash — to crush
  5. fall — to drop
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — farmland
  11. field — for sport
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. rest — what's left
  16. band — a music group
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. band — a ring
  19. spring — of water
  20. squash — the sport
  21. rest — a break
  22. rest — what's left
  23. fall — the season
  24. hand — help

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