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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. perch — the fish
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. march — the month
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. band — a ring
  8. march — music
  9. field — a subject
  10. band — a music group
  11. cell — in biology
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. march — the month
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — for sport
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. content — happy
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. rock — music
  21. rock — a stone
  22. content — the amount
  23. cell — a phone
  24. tube — the underground

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