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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. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  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. jam — to spread on bread
  2. rash — a series
  3. rash — hasty
  4. content — the amount
  5. clip — for paper
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. last — finally
  8. content — happy
  9. last — to go on
  10. spring — the season
  11. bass — the fish
  12. spring — a coil
  13. band — a music group
  14. spring — of water
  15. band — a ring
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. bass — low music
  20. last — final
  21. clip — to cut
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. content — videos and posts
  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