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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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. swing — music
  3. game — wild animals
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. fall — to drop
  6. spring — of water
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. fall — the season
  9. band — a ring
  10. face — to confront
  11. spring — the season
  12. fall — to drop
  13. march — the month
  14. content — happy
  15. spring — a coil
  16. march — the month
  17. face — part of the head
  18. content — the amount
  19. swing — in golf
  20. face — to point toward
  21. game — a match
  22. swing — to play on
  23. march — music
  24. band — a music group

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