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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. march — music
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. march — the month
  5. rest — what's left
  6. content — happy
  7. band — a ring
  8. game — a match
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. content — the amount
  11. chair — a leader
  12. rest — what's left
  13. rest — a break
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. march — the month
  17. band — a music group
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. game — wild animals
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. scale — in music
  24. scale — for weighing

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