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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. lean — thin
  3. fall — to drop
  4. clip — to cut
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. pitch — completely
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. fall — the season
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — for paper
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. lean — to bend
  13. net — in sport
  14. net — after costs
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. content — the amount
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. rash — hasty
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. rash — a series
  23. net — for catching
  24. fall — to drop

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