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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  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 — the amount
  2. wind — moving air
  3. clip — for paper
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. wind — moving air
  6. tear — from crying
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. content — happy
  10. row — to paddle
  11. mate — to breed
  12. clip — to cut
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. track — to keep track
  15. tear — to rip
  16. track — a path
  17. tear — from crying
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. mate — a friend
  21. track — a song
  22. row — a line
  23. mate — a partner
  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