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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. last — final
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. content — happy
  9. band — a ring
  10. content — the amount
  11. rush — hurry
  12. spring — of water
  13. spring — a coil
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. saw — the tool
  16. spring — the season
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. last — to go on
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. wake — a trail
  21. wax — to grow
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. saw — the tool
  24. last — finally

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