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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 116 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: race · fan · band · bark · perch · hand · tube · field

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. hand — help
  3. race — a contest
  4. band — a ring
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. tube — a container
  10. tube — the underground
  11. field — farmland
  12. perch — the fish
  13. race — humankind
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. field — for sport
  16. race — the arms race
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bark — to shout
  19. band — a music group
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. field — a subject
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. hand — in cards

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