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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 116 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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. band — a ring
  3. net — after costs
  4. content — happy
  5. tear — from crying
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. file — a line of people
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. bass — the fish
  10. file — a document
  11. content — the amount
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bass — low music
  14. file — a tool
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. net — for catching
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. pass — a permit
  23. band — a music group
  24. net — in sport

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