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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. land — ground
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. clip — a video
  6. bat — the animal
  7. content — happy
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. clip — for paper
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. chair — a leader
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. clip — to cut
  15. land — a country
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. game — wild animals
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. game — a match
  22. content — the amount
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. game — a kind of play

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