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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: fine · band · straw · bark · scale · land · pitcher · mine

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. bark — to shout
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. fine — high quality
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. land — ground
  9. land — to come down
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. fine — all right
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. scale — size or range
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. land — a country
  21. band — a music group
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. scale — in music
  24. pitcher — a jug

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