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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: season · content · band · wound · spring · dip · land · face

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. wound — an injury
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. spring — a coil
  6. season — of the year
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. face — to point toward
  9. land — ground
  10. content — the amount
  11. band — a music group
  12. land — a country
  13. face — to confront
  14. face — part of the head
  15. dip — to sink
  16. spring — the season
  17. band — a ring
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. content — happy
  20. season — in sport
  21. spring — of water
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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