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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: content · land · clip · bass · pound · fan · tear · present

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. tear — from crying
  3. content — happy
  4. clip — a video
  5. land — a country
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. land — ground
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. clip — for paper
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. present — there
  12. present — the time now
  13. present — a gift
  14. clip — to cut
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. bass — the fish
  21. bass — low music
  22. pound — a weight
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. content — the amount

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