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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. band — a ring
  4. file — a line of people
  5. file — a tool
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. degree — from a university
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. wind — moving air
  10. content — happy
  11. rule — a law
  12. court — of law
  13. content — the amount
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. wind — moving air
  19. court — for sport
  20. file — a document
  21. court — of a king
  22. rule — government
  23. degree — an amount
  24. degree — temperature

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