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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: bound · chest · band · content · land · tube · pitcher · race

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. band — a music group
  3. land — a country
  4. band — a ring
  5. content — happy
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. chest — of your body
  8. race — a contest
  9. content — the amount
  10. race — humankind
  11. race — the arms race
  12. chest — a box
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. land — to come down
  15. chest — of your body
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. bound — certain
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. land — ground
  20. bound — obliged
  21. bound — tied together
  22. tube — a container
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. pitcher — a jug

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