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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. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. key — in music
  4. cold — not warm
  5. club — for dancing
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. content — happy
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. band — a ring
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. club — for golf
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. content — the amount
  17. fork — in a road
  18. club — a group
  19. band — a music group
  20. mine — for digging
  21. key — for a lock
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. key — the most important part
  24. mine — an explosive

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