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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bass · straw · ball · content · rash · wound · trunk · rule

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  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 — happy
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. bass — low music
  5. wound — an injury
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. rule — a law
  8. rash — a series
  9. bass — the fish
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. ball — a great time
  12. rash — hasty
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. wound — an injury
  16. content — the amount
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. ball — a dance
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. rule — government
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. trunk — of a tree
  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