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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 120 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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. cell — in biology
  3. clip — a video
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. ball — a dance
  6. content — happy
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. clip — to cut
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. wound — an injury
  11. club — a group
  12. clip — for paper
  13. fine — all right
  14. ball — a great time
  15. content — the amount
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. club — for dancing
  19. club — for golf
  20. cell — a phone
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. wound — an injury
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. straw — a straw man

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