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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  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. present — a gift
  2. clip — a video
  3. game — a match
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. rest — what's left
  6. clip — for paper
  7. rest — what's left
  8. track — a song
  9. track — a path
  10. track — to keep track
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. present — the time now
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — money
  15. band — a music group
  16. rest — a break
  17. clip — to cut
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. content — happy
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. band — a ring
  22. present — there
  23. game — wild animals
  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