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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. I've got to change the light ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. content — happy
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. band — a ring
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. row — a line
  10. wound — an injury
  11. row — to paddle
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. band — a music group
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. wind — moving air
  17. pass — a permit
  18. bulb — for light
  19. wound — an injury
  20. bulb — for light
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. wind — moving air
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — videos and posts

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