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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 116 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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. staff — a stick
  3. ground — a position
  4. clip — to cut
  5. ground — the earth
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. clip — for paper
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. race — humankind
  10. staff — employees
  11. ground — crushed
  12. clip — a video
  13. content — happy
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. race — the arms race
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. last — final
  19. last — to go on
  20. last — finally
  21. staff — employees
  22. content — the amount
  23. race — a contest
  24. content — videos and posts

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