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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. drill — the tool
  3. drill — army training
  4. clip — a video
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. clip — for paper
  7. row — a line
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. row — to paddle
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. rash — hasty
  14. content — happy
  15. clip — to cut
  16. sharp — clever
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. content — the amount
  19. rash — a series
  20. wind — moving air
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. drill — a practice
  23. wind — moving air
  24. coach — a trainer

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