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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  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. land — a country
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. clip — to cut
  5. kick — in football
  6. land — ground
  7. wake — a trail
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. content — happy
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. land — to come down
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. clip — a video
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. clip — for paper
  23. straw — dry grass
  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