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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 120 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. cap — a lid
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. club — a group
  5. cap — of ice
  6. club — for dancing
  7. row — to paddle
  8. swing — in golf
  9. clip — a video
  10. band — a music group
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. swing — music
  14. band — a ring
  15. row — a line
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. club — for golf
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. swing — to play on
  20. perch — the fish
  21. cap — a hat
  22. content — the amount
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — to cut

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