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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. last — final
  3. kid — to tease
  4. content — happy
  5. firm — steady
  6. kid — child
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. clip — a video
  9. spell — a short time
  10. clip — for paper
  11. rush — hurry
  12. last — finally
  13. firm — decided
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. firm — a company
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. spell — letters
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. spell — magic
  22. last — to go on
  23. content — the amount
  24. clip — to cut

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