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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. hand — help
  3. content — happy
  4. fork — in a road
  5. clip — to cut
  6. march — music
  7. clip — for paper
  8. march — the month
  9. chair — a leader
  10. key — in music
  11. key — the most important part
  12. march — the month
  13. hand — in cards
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. key — for a lock
  21. clip — a video
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. racket — a loud noise

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