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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 120 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 · band · net · wave · ball · trunk · cold · pitcher

  1. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. content — the amount
  3. band — a ring
  4. ball — a dance
  5. ball — a great time
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. net — in sport
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. cold — not warm
  15. net — for catching
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. net — after costs
  22. content — happy
  23. band — a music group
  24. cold — an illness

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