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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. clip — to cut
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. wound — an injury
  6. clip — a video
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. chest — a box
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. content — happy
  16. wound — an injury
  17. kick — in football
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. clip — for paper
  22. vault — a safe
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. pitcher — a jug

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