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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. pass — a permit
  3. ground — crushed
  4. ball — a dance
  5. content — the amount
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. race — the arms race
  8. scale — in music
  9. ground — the earth
  10. clip — for paper
  11. ground — a position
  12. clip — a video
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. ball — a great time
  16. race — a contest
  17. clip — to cut
  18. scale — size or range
  19. kick — in football
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. race — humankind
  24. scale — for weighing

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