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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 120 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: race · band · straw · fan · field · bear · court · stock

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. field — farmland
  3. field — for sport
  4. race — humankind
  5. bear — the animal
  6. band — a ring
  7. band — a music group
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. court — of law
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. court — for sport
  12. bear — the animal
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. race — a contest
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. stock — goods
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. court — of a king
  21. race — the arms race
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. field — a subject
  24. band — a rubber band

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