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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 116 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: drill · bowl · file · last · band · ground · spell · content

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  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. content — the amount
  2. spell — letters
  3. last — to go on
  4. ground — crushed
  5. ground — a position
  6. spell — magic
  7. band — a ring
  8. content — happy
  9. drill — the tool
  10. last — finally
  11. spell — a short time
  12. drill — a practice
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. file — a document
  15. band — a music group
  16. drill — army training
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. file — a tool
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. last — final
  22. file — a line of people
  23. ground — the earth
  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