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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: perch · bore · bay · swing · cell · mine · band · content

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. content — happy
  3. bore — to tire
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. bore — to drill
  7. swing — to play on
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. cell — in biology
  14. mine — for digging
  15. cell — a phone
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. swing — music
  18. content — the amount
  19. band — a music group
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. perch — the fish
  22. bay — a part of the sea
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. swing — in golf

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