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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. band — a music group
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. content — happy
  5. band — a ring
  6. staff — employees
  7. staff — employees
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. clip — to cut
  10. fork — in a road
  11. ball — a dance
  12. staff — a stick
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. content — the amount
  15. bank — for money
  16. row — a line
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. bank — of a river
  20. bank — for money
  21. clip — for paper
  22. row — to paddle
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. clip — a video

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