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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. content — the amount
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. content — happy
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. sharp — clever
  11. snap — to click
  12. band — a music group
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. bass — low music
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cold — an illness
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. fork — in a road
  23. cold — not warm
  24. band — a ring

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