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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chair — a leader
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. chest — a box
  5. drill — a practice
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. last — to go on
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. last — final
  10. clip — for paper
  11. last — finally
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. plane — a tool
  15. clip — a video
  16. drill — army training
  17. capital — money
  18. chest — of your body
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. content — the amount
  21. chest — of your body
  22. clip — to cut
  23. drill — the tool
  24. chair — a professorship

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