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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. clip — for paper
  3. content — happy
  4. track — a path
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. plane — a tool
  7. degree — from a university
  8. clip — to cut
  9. track — to keep track
  10. track — a song
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. ground — the earth
  13. clip — a video
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. ground — a position
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — temperature
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — from crying
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. tear — to rip
  24. patient — a sick person

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