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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. club — for dancing
  3. band — a ring
  4. land — ground
  5. club — a group
  6. spring — of water
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. hand — help
  9. can — to be able to
  10. club — for golf
  11. land — to come down
  12. content — happy
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. clip — to cut
  15. spring — the season
  16. content — the amount
  17. spring — a coil
  18. hand — in cards
  19. can — a tin
  20. band — a music group
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — for paper
  23. can — a tin
  24. hand — part of the body

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