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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 120 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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. chest — of your body
  5. court — for sport
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. bass — low music
  8. shower — to wash
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cap — of ice
  12. cap — a hat
  13. band — a music group
  14. march — the month
  15. content — happy
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. bass — the fish
  18. court — of a king
  19. court — of law
  20. band — a ring
  21. march — music
  22. shower — rain
  23. march — the month
  24. bass — the instrument

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