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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: content · rock · clip · field · spring · hand · band · date

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. field — a subject
  3. spring — the season
  4. content — the amount
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. rock — a stone
  7. content — happy
  8. spring — a coil
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — to cut
  14. hand — help
  15. spring — of water
  16. date — the fruit
  17. clip — for paper
  18. field — for sport
  19. band — a music group
  20. rock — music
  21. hand — in cards
  22. field — farmland
  23. band — a ring
  24. date — on the calendar

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