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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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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: band · branch · pit · content · spell · face · kid · fall

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — child
  4. band — a music group
  5. fall — the season
  6. face — part of the head
  7. fall — to drop
  8. branch — a division
  9. band — a ring
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. face — to confront
  12. spell — magic
  13. spell — letters
  14. fall — to drop
  15. face — to point toward
  16. pit — in a race
  17. content — the amount
  18. pit — a hole
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. spell — a short time
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. branch — of a tree

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