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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. race — a contest
  4. content — happy
  5. net — after costs
  6. ball — a great time
  7. net — in sport
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. content — the amount
  10. bat — the animal
  11. race — humankind
  12. bank — of a river
  13. band — a music group
  14. bank — for money
  15. bank — for money
  16. drill — the tool
  17. drill — army training
  18. drill — a practice
  19. net — for catching
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. ball — a dance
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. race — the arms 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