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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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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: field · swing · band · wake · season · spring · chip · foot

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. band — a ring
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. field — farmland
  6. spring — of water
  7. spring — the season
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. wake — a trail
  11. season — of the year
  12. field — a subject
  13. swing — music
  14. swing — to play on
  15. chip — to eat
  16. field — for sport
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. spring — a coil
  19. swing — in golf
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. foot — a measure
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. chip — for betting
  24. season — in sport

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