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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: mate · band · fall · fan · wound · game · can · file

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fall — to drop
  3. wound — an injury
  4. fall — the season
  5. can — to be able to
  6. game — wild animals
  7. file — a line of people
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. fall — to drop
  10. mate — a friend
  11. file — a tool
  12. mate — to breed
  13. can — a tin
  14. mate — a partner
  15. band — a ring
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. file — a document
  19. wound — an injury
  20. can — a tin
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. band — a music group
  24. game — a match

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