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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: band · land · game · field · trunk · wake · last · march

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. game — a match
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. land — ground
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. last — final
  10. land — to come down
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. game — wild animals
  15. land — a country
  16. field — for sport
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. wake — a trail
  19. march — music
  20. field — farmland
  21. last — to go on
  22. field — a subject
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. last — finally

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