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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. land — to come down
  3. spell — a short time
  4. drill — a practice
  5. swing — in golf
  6. band — a music group
  7. court — for sport
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. drill — army training
  10. court — of law
  11. land — a country
  12. spell — magic
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. content — happy
  15. drill — the tool
  16. spell — letters
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. band — a ring
  20. court — of a king
  21. toast — bread
  22. swing — music
  23. content — the amount
  24. land — ground

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