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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: field · bat · band · key · chest · last · wave · spring

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. field — a subject
  3. chest — of your body
  4. last — to go on
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. field — for sport
  7. chest — of your body
  8. key — for a lock
  9. field — farmland
  10. band — a music group
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. spring — the season
  13. key — the most important part
  14. band — a ring
  15. key — in music
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. bat — the animal
  19. wave — with your hand
  20. chest — a box
  21. spring — of water
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. spring — a coil
  24. last — finally

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