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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: key · wound · chest · field · band · pound · bass · wind

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. key — in music
  7. chest — a box
  8. band — a music group
  9. band — a ring
  10. key — the most important part
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wound — an injury
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. wound — an injury
  16. field — for sport
  17. pound — a weight
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. field — farmland
  20. bass — low music
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bass — the fish
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. key — for a lock

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