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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. court — for sport
  3. roll — a cake
  4. clip — a video
  5. drill — a practice
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. drill — the tool
  9. court — of law
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. hand — help
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. drill — army training
  14. clip — for paper
  15. content — the amount
  16. clip — to cut
  17. content — happy
  18. hand — in cards
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. court — of a king
  21. roll — a list
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. foot — a measure
  24. roll — on a roll

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