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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 120 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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. file — a document
  3. clip — for paper
  4. rest — what's left
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. court — of law
  7. content — the amount
  8. bass — low music
  9. rest — a break
  10. court — of a king
  11. court — for sport
  12. clip — to cut
  13. rest — what's left
  14. content — happy
  15. kid — to tease
  16. bass — the fish
  17. clip — a video
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. file — a line of people
  20. file — a tool
  21. wake — a trail
  22. kid — child
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bass — the instrument

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