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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: mate · clip · chest · staff · rest · content · lash · band

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. mate — a friend
  3. band — a ring
  4. staff — employees
  5. clip — a video
  6. staff — employees
  7. mate — to breed
  8. rest — what's left
  9. content — happy
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — of your body
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. clip — to cut
  16. content — the amount
  17. band — a music group
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. rest — a break
  20. rest — what's left
  21. staff — a stick
  22. mate — a partner
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. chest — a box

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