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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. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pop — soda
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. pop — to visit
  7. clip — a video
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. pop — music
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. content — the amount
  12. band — a ring
  13. band — a music group
  14. content — happy
  15. march — music
  16. march — the month
  17. clip — to cut
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. cold — not warm
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. clip — for paper
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. march — the month

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