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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. key — the most important part
  4. content — the amount
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. lean — to bend
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. key — for a lock
  9. snap — to click
  10. key — in music
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — to paddle
  14. perch — the fish
  15. clip — for paper
  16. safe — a strongbox
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. row — a line
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. lean — thin
  22. clip — to cut
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. clip — a video

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