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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: rock · wind · spring · foot · band · bowl · chest · land

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. spring — a coil
  4. land — a country
  5. spring — the season
  6. wind — moving air
  7. band — a music group
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. land — to come down
  14. foot — a measure
  15. rock — music
  16. rock — a stone
  17. land — ground
  18. chest — of your body
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. band — a ring
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. spring — of water
  23. chest — a box
  24. wind — moving air

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