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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. bear — the animal
  3. last — finally
  4. court — for sport
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. band — a ring
  7. content — happy
  8. content — the amount
  9. bear — the animal
  10. cold — an illness
  11. last — final
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. snap — to click
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — in cards
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. court — of a king
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. cold — not warm
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. hand — help
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. last — to go on
  24. court — of law

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