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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: prune · press · row · face · content · scale · band · last

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. last — final
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. press — to push
  5. content — the amount
  6. face — part of the head
  7. band — a music group
  8. face — to confront
  9. row — to paddle
  10. scale — in music
  11. row — a line
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. scale — size or range
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. prune — to trim
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. last — to go on
  18. press — a publisher
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. face — to point toward
  21. band — a ring
  22. last — finally
  23. press — newspapers
  24. prune — to trim

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