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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. chair — a leader
  3. rock — music
  4. content — happy
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. key — in music
  7. file — a tool
  8. key — the most important part
  9. rock — a stone
  10. clip — a video
  11. file — a document
  12. content — the amount
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. key — for a lock
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bore — to tire
  20. clip — for paper
  21. file — a line of people
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. bore — to drill
  24. wind — moving air

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