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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: snap · band · land · content · wind · fine · chest · foot

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. content — happy
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. foot — a measure
  5. wind — moving air
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. chest — of your body
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. land — a country
  14. chest — a box
  15. land — ground
  16. snap — to click
  17. fine — all right
  18. land — to come down
  19. fine — high quality
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. content — the amount
  22. chest — of your body
  23. band — a ring
  24. band — a music group

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