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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. clip — for paper
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. clip — to cut
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. content — happy
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. wind — moving air
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. spell — letters
  12. bass — the fish
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. content — the amount
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. wind — moving air
  17. bass — low music
  18. spell — a short time
  19. chip — for betting
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. clip — a video
  23. chip — to eat
  24. spell — magic

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