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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. object — a thing
  3. clip — to cut
  4. content — the amount
  5. face — to point toward
  6. band — a music group
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. content — happy
  11. face — part of the head
  12. kid — to tease
  13. bass — low music
  14. clip — a video
  15. last — final
  16. object — to protest
  17. band — a ring
  18. face — to confront
  19. kid — child
  20. bass — the fish
  21. last — finally
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. object — an aim
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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