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

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. bass — the fish
  3. craft — a skill
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. band — a music group
  7. content — the amount
  8. row — a line
  9. bass — low music
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. file — a tool
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. craft — boats
  15. file — a line of people
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. band — a ring
  18. rash — hasty
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. file — a document
  22. content — happy
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. row — to paddle

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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