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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 116 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. content — happy
  3. content — the amount
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. band — a music group
  6. fine — all right
  7. cap — a lid
  8. race — a contest
  9. cap — a hat
  10. race — the arms race
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cap — of ice
  13. rule — government
  14. degree — temperature
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. wound — an injury
  17. rule — a law
  18. wound — an injury
  19. degree — from a university
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. fine — high quality
  22. race — humankind
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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