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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. game — wild animals
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. game — a match
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. clip — for paper
  11. content — the amount
  12. content — happy
  13. wake — a trail
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. saw — the tool
  18. saw — the tool
  19. ruler — a monarch
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. cell — in biology
  24. bat — the animal

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