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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: game · march · kick · stem · chip · bass · band · hand

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. bass — low music
  3. band — a music group
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. march — the month
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. hand — help
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. kick — in football
  13. game — a match
  14. chip — to eat
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. game — wild animals
  17. hand — in cards
  18. stem — to come from
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. bass — the fish
  24. chip — for betting

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