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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. shower — to wash
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. bat — the animal
  6. cell — a phone
  7. clip — to cut
  8. track — a path
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. wax — to grow
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. content — the amount
  13. content — happy
  14. clip — for paper
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. track — to keep track
  18. shower — rain
  19. staff — a stick
  20. staff — employees
  21. staff — employees
  22. cell — in biology
  23. track — a song
  24. cell — in a prison

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