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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 · pop · degree · tear · bass · straw · field · wind

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. pop — music
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wind — moving air
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. band — a ring
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. pop — to visit
  17. bass — the fish
  18. band — a music group
  19. degree — temperature
  20. degree — an amount
  21. field — a subject
  22. degree — from a university
  23. pop — soda
  24. bass — low music

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