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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. fine — all right
  3. lean — to bend
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — to cut
  6. content — the amount
  7. pop — soda
  8. pop — music
  9. spell — magic
  10. spell — a short time
  11. content — happy
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. spell — letters
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. fine — high quality
  17. rash — a series
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. pop — to visit
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. rash — hasty
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. lean — thin
  24. bat — the animal

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