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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. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. race — a contest
  3. content — happy
  4. key — the most important part
  5. race — the arms race
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. last — finally
  8. clip — to cut
  9. file — a document
  10. last — final
  11. pop — to visit
  12. race — humankind
  13. last — to go on
  14. pop — music
  15. content — the amount
  16. file — a line of people
  17. key — for a lock
  18. staff — employees
  19. clip — a video
  20. key — in music
  21. file — a tool
  22. staff — employees
  23. clip — for paper
  24. pop — soda

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