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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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Word bank
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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: date · pop · net · content · band · club · cold · charge

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. net — after costs
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. cold — not warm
  5. club — for dancing
  6. band — a ring
  7. charge — electricity
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. net — in sport
  10. band — a music group
  11. cold — an illness
  12. charge — in control
  13. charge — a price
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. club — for golf
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. pop — music
  18. pop — soda
  19. net — for catching
  20. club — a group
  21. content — happy
  22. date — the fruit
  23. pop — to visit
  24. content — the amount

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