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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. band — a music group
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. court — of a king
  6. court — for sport
  7. court — of law
  8. content — happy
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. content — the amount
  11. race — humankind
  12. cold — not warm
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. race — the arms race
  15. rock — a stone
  16. toast — a drink to someone
  17. race — a contest
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. toast — bread
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. toast — the most admired
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. band — a ring
  24. cold — an illness

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