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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. clip — for paper
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. spring — of water
  5. content — happy
  6. content — the amount
  7. spell — magic
  8. spring — the season
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. staff — employees
  12. clip — to cut
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. spell — letters
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. staff — employees
  17. staff — a stick
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. spring — a coil
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. spell — a short time
  23. mine — for digging
  24. date — the fruit

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