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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. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. chip — to eat
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cell — in biology
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. band — a ring
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. content — the amount
  11. mine — for digging
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — a match
  14. cell — a phone
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. content — happy
  20. band — a music group
  21. bat — the animal
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. chip — for betting
  24. game — wild animals

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