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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. vault — a safe
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. track — a path
  5. last — final
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. clip — a video
  8. last — to go on
  9. track — to keep track
  10. season — in sport
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. last — finally
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. track — a song
  16. drill — army training
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. drill — the tool
  20. content — the amount
  21. drill — a practice
  22. season — of the year
  23. clip — for paper
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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