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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  24. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. spring — of water
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. bark — to shout
  8. wind — moving air
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. spring — the season
  12. last — final
  13. chair — a leader
  14. content — happy
  15. content — the amount
  16. wind — moving air
  17. spring — a coil
  18. band — a music group
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. band — a ring
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. last — to go on
  23. toast — bread
  24. toast — the most admired

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