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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: hand · content · band · pass · wax · clip · bank · tear

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. pass — a permit
  3. bank — for money
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. tear — from crying
  6. hand — in cards
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. content — the amount
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. wax — to grow
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. tear — to rip
  13. band — a music group
  14. hand — help
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. bank — for money
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. tear — from crying
  19. bank — of a river
  20. band — a ring
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — for paper

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