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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 · band · toast · content · game · fork · chair · clip

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. band — a music group
  3. chair — a leader
  4. game — wild animals
  5. content — the amount
  6. band — a ring
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. clip — for paper
  9. toast — bread
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. content — happy
  14. date — the fruit
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. fork — in a road
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. clip — a video
  23. game — a match
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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