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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. cap — a hat
  3. ground — crushed
  4. band — a music group
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. net — for catching
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. net — after costs
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. clip — a video
  13. degree — from a university
  14. content — the amount
  15. cap — a lid
  16. ground — the earth
  17. content — happy
  18. ground — a position
  19. degree — an amount
  20. clip — for paper
  21. net — in sport
  22. cap — of ice
  23. degree — temperature
  24. clip — to cut

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