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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. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. fall — to drop
  3. bound — tied together
  4. bound — certain
  5. fall — to drop
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. content — the amount
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. clip — for paper
  10. cold — an illness
  11. file — a document
  12. clip — to cut
  13. rock — a stone
  14. bound — obliged
  15. rock — music
  16. file — a line of people
  17. content — happy
  18. cold — not warm
  19. file — a tool
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. clip — a video
  24. fall — the season

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