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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 116 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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. content — the amount
  3. row — a line
  4. ball — a dance
  5. ball — a great time
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. wake — a trail
  9. clip — a video
  10. row — to paddle
  11. clip — to cut
  12. content — happy
  13. root — the cause
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. kid — child
  16. clip — for paper
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. root — of a plant
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. root — of a word
  24. kid — to tease

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