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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: bat · kid · track · band · toast · squash · march · bowl

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. track — to keep track
  4. band — a ring
  5. squash — to crush
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. track — a path
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. march — the month
  15. toast — bread
  16. march — the month
  17. kid — to tease
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. band — a music group
  20. track — a song
  21. kid — child
  22. march — music
  23. squash — the sport
  24. bat — for baseball

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