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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. face — part of the head
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. band — a ring
  7. content — happy
  8. spell — a short time
  9. spell — letters
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. bat — the animal
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. spell — magic
  15. mine — for digging
  16. face — to point toward
  17. band — a music group
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. pitch — completely
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. face — to confront
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. content — the amount

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