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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's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. content — happy
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. foot — a measure
  5. court — of a king
  6. mate — a friend
  7. mate — a partner
  8. clip — for paper
  9. file — a line of people
  10. bass — low music
  11. court — for sport
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. mate — to breed
  14. court — of law
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. clip — a video
  18. band — a ring
  19. clip — to cut
  20. content — the amount
  21. bass — the fish
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a document
  24. content — videos and posts

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