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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. file — a document
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. land — a country
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. last — final
  8. land — ground
  9. content — the amount
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. land — to come down
  13. file — a line of people
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. last — to go on
  16. pitch — completely
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. band — a ring
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. last — finally
  22. file — a tool
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. content — happy

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