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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 116 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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. cell — a phone
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. clip — a video
  6. march — the month
  7. mark — a trace
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. bound — certain
  10. mark — a grade
  11. bound — obliged
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. hand — in cards
  14. bound — tied together
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. content — happy
  17. clip — for paper
  18. hand — help
  19. cell — in biology
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. march — the month
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. march — music
  24. clip — to cut

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