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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: chip · wound · band · mug · land · march · board · field

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. board — a committee
  3. band — a ring
  4. land — a country
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. land — to come down
  7. wound — an injury
  8. band — a music group
  9. march — music
  10. field — a subject
  11. chip — to eat
  12. mug — a cup
  13. mug — to rob
  14. wound — an injury
  15. chip — for betting
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. march — the month
  19. march — the month
  20. field — for sport
  21. land — ground
  22. board — to get on
  23. mug — a face
  24. chip — in a computer

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