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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. wound — an injury
  5. last — to go on
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. fine — high quality
  8. clip — to cut
  9. rush — hurry
  10. cold — an illness
  11. last — finally
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. kid — child
  15. clip — a video
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. last — final
  18. cold — not warm
  19. clip — for paper
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. fine — all right
  22. wound — an injury
  23. kid — to tease
  24. content — happy

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