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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. content — the amount
  3. wind — moving air
  4. kid — to tease
  5. kid — child
  6. pop — music
  7. clip — to cut
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. stem — to come from
  10. ground — a position
  11. pop — to visit
  12. firm — decided
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. firm — steady
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. clip — for paper
  18. content — happy
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. ground — crushed
  21. clip — a video
  22. wind — moving air
  23. ground — the earth
  24. pop — soda

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