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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 120 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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. band — a music group
  3. bat — the animal
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. squash — to crush
  6. wind — moving air
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. spell — magic
  10. content — happy
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. spell — letters
  13. content — the amount
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. plane — a tool
  16. spell — a short time
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. band — a ring
  22. scale — in music
  23. squash — the sport
  24. wind — to turn a key

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