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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. rest — what's left
  3. lean — thin
  4. land — ground
  5. object — to protest
  6. clip — a video
  7. lean — to bend
  8. cell — a phone
  9. content — happy
  10. clip — for paper
  11. land — a country
  12. object — a thing
  13. land — to come down
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. clip — to cut
  17. cell — in biology
  18. stock — goods
  19. rest — what's left
  20. stock — shares
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. object — an aim
  24. content — the amount

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