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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: march · cabinet · band · stem · field · tube · game · hand

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a match
  6. march — the month
  7. field — a subject
  8. field — for sport
  9. band — a music group
  10. band — a ring
  11. march — the month
  12. tube — a container
  13. march — music
  14. hand — in cards
  15. tube — the underground
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. hand — help
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. field — farmland
  24. cabinet — ministers

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