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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. clip — for paper
  5. kid — child
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. bore — to tire
  9. content — the amount
  10. kid — to tease
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. row — a line
  14. cell — a phone
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. bore — to drill
  17. cell — in biology
  18. clip — a video
  19. content — happy
  20. pound — a weight
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. row — to paddle

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