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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
468
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: face · pop · ground · chest · kid · band · bat · scale

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pop — soda
  5. pop — to visit
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. pop — music
  8. band — a ring
  9. ground — a position
  10. ground — the earth
  11. face — to confront
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. band — a music group
  14. kid — to tease
  15. chest — a box
  16. face — part of the head
  17. face — to point toward
  18. chest — of your body
  19. kid — child
  20. ground — crushed
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. scale — in music
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. scale — size or range

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