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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.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — to breed
  4. roll — a cake
  5. spring — a coil
  6. content — happy
  7. spring — the season
  8. clip — to cut
  9. mate — a friend
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. roll — a list
  14. spring — of water
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. clip — for paper
  18. content — the amount

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