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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. fall — to drop
  3. content — happy
  4. shower — to wash
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — to cut
  7. fall — the season
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. bank — for money
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. content — the amount
  12. band — a music group
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. chair — a leader
  15. fall — to drop
  16. drill — the tool
  17. clip — for paper
  18. drill — a practice
  19. band — a ring
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. bank — for money
  22. bank — of a river
  23. drill — army training
  24. shower — rain

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