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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: wake · court · hand · band · sharp · pit · content · plane

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. plane — a tool
  3. band — a ring
  4. content — happy
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hand — in cards
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. wake — a trail
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. pit — in a race
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. sharp — clever
  14. pit — a hole
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. court — of law
  18. band — a music group
  19. content — the amount
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. court — of a king
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. court — for sport

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