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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: wound · bass · content · row · mouse · mine · last · band

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. last — final
  4. last — to go on
  5. content — happy
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. bass — the fish
  9. row — to paddle
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. last — finally
  14. row — a line
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. wound — an injury
  17. content — the amount
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. bass — low music
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. wound — an injury

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