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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. clip — to cut
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. clip — a video
  5. rule — a law
  6. cold — not warm
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. content — happy
  10. game — a match
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. race — a contest
  15. cold — an illness
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. clip — for paper
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. race — the arms race
  20. rule — government
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. toast — bread
  23. race — humankind
  24. game — wild animals

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