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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 124 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. band — a ring
  6. band — a music group
  7. spell — magic
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. content — happy
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. bulb — for light
  12. spell — letters
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cell — a phone
  15. rush — hurry
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. degree — from a university
  18. cell — in biology
  19. content — the amount
  20. wound — an injury
  21. bulb — for light
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. spell — a short time

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