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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: chest · band · row · firm · game · field · bore · bat

  1. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  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. firm — decided
  2. bore — to drill
  3. field — for sport
  4. firm — a company
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. game — a match
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. band — a music group
  9. band — a ring
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. firm — steady
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bore — to tire
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. row — a line
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bat — the animal
  21. row — to paddle
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — farmland
  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