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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. cold — not warm
  3. spell — letters
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. squash — the sport
  6. clip — a video
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cell — in biology
  12. fine — high quality
  13. spell — magic
  14. fine — all right
  15. content — the amount
  16. cold — an illness
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. wound — an injury
  19. squash — to crush
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wound — an injury
  22. spell — a short time
  23. content — happy
  24. cell — a phone

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