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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: field · suit · wound · mate · press · kid · band · mine

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. When will it ________________ you to start?
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. mate — a partner
  3. press — a publisher
  4. kid — to tease
  5. field — a subject
  6. press — to push
  7. mate — to breed
  8. band — a ring
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. press — newspapers
  11. kid — child
  12. mine — for digging
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. wound — an injury
  15. suit — clothes
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. field — farmland
  18. suit — in cards
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. suit — to fit
  21. band — a music group
  22. wound — an injury
  23. mate — a friend
  24. band — a rubber band

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