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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 · wind · fall · lie · band · clip · ground · drill

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. fall — the season
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. game — a match
  6. drill — army training
  7. ground — the earth
  8. fall — to drop
  9. band — a ring
  10. clip — for paper
  11. ground — a position
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. clip — to cut
  14. lie — to recline
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. wind — moving air
  17. ground — crushed
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. clip — a video
  20. drill — the tool
  21. drill — a practice
  22. game — wild animals
  23. wind — moving air
  24. fall — to drop

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