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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. land — to come down
  4. clip — for paper
  5. lean — to bend
  6. tube — the underground
  7. content — happy
  8. content — the amount
  9. capital — a city
  10. capital — money
  11. tube — a container
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. clip — to cut
  15. land — ground
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. lean — thin
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. clip — a video
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. land — a country

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