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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. hand — help
  4. net — in sport
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. capital — a city
  7. content — the amount
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. band — a ring
  10. band — a music group
  11. net — for catching
  12. club — for dancing
  13. net — after costs
  14. content — happy
  15. rule — government
  16. capital — money
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. rule — a law
  19. shower — to wash
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. club — for golf
  23. shower — rain
  24. hand — in cards

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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