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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. net — for catching
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. cold — an illness
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. cold — not warm
  10. net — after costs
  11. clip — a video
  12. content — happy
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. court — of a king
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. plane — a tool
  17. court — for sport
  18. lean — thin
  19. lean — to bend
  20. court — of law
  21. clip — to cut
  22. net — in sport
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. content — the amount

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