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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 · band · chest · cap · march · lean · pop · wake

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. game — a match
  3. cap — of ice
  4. pop — to visit
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. chest — a box
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. cap — a hat
  9. lean — thin
  10. chest — of your body
  11. band — a music group
  12. chest — of your body
  13. pop — music
  14. march — music
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. wake — a trail
  17. pop — soda
  18. band — a ring
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. cap — a lid
  22. game — wild animals
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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