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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. bark — to shout
  3. spring — the season
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. content — the amount
  6. bass — low music
  7. bore — to tire
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. content — happy
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — to point toward
  12. band — a music group
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. bore — to drill
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — a coil
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. face — part of the head
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. bass — the fish

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