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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chest — of your body
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. content — the amount
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. clip — to cut
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. clip — a video
  9. chest — of your body
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. capital — money
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. capital — a city
  18. clip — for paper
  19. mine — for digging
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. stand — to bear
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. chest — a box
  24. stand — for spectators

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