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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. march — the month
  3. face — part of the head
  4. swing — music
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. pit — a hole
  7. swing — to play on
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. drill — army training
  10. content — the amount
  11. march — music
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. band — a music group
  14. band — a ring
  15. march — the month
  16. face — to confront
  17. squash — to crush
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. drill — a practice
  20. swing — in golf
  21. face — to point toward
  22. drill — the tool
  23. squash — the sport
  24. pit — in a race

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