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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: ground · track · mug · band · court · hand · bark · wind

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. ground — a position
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. track — a song
  5. court — for sport
  6. hand — in cards
  7. track — a path
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. band — a ring
  10. wind — moving air
  11. mug — a cup
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. band — a music group
  14. hand — help
  15. court — of law
  16. mug — to rob
  17. court — of a king
  18. mug — a face
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. ground — the earth
  21. ground — crushed
  22. bark — to shout
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. wind — moving air

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