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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. lean — to bend
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. lean — thin
  5. mine — for digging
  6. content — the amount
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. cell — in biology
  11. clip — a video
  12. degree — an amount
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. clip — for paper
  19. dip — to sink
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cell — a phone
  22. degree — from a university
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. clip — to cut

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