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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: pop · bark · cold · snap · content · band · spell · rock

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. band — a ring
  4. spell — letters
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pop — music
  8. spell — a short time
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. rock — a stone
  11. band — a music group
  12. cold — not warm
  13. content — happy
  14. content — the amount
  15. rock — music
  16. pop — to visit
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. spell — magic
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. bark — to shout
  22. snap — to click
  23. pop — soda
  24. content — videos and posts

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