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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. content — the amount
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. saw — the tool
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. swing — in golf
  11. swing — to play on
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. field — a subject
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. perch — the fish
  16. field — farmland
  17. wake — a trail
  18. lean — to bend
  19. lean — thin
  20. content — happy
  21. field — for sport
  22. saw — the tool
  23. band — a music group
  24. swing — music

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