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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. snap — to click
  3. capital — money
  4. mark — a trace
  5. mark — a grade
  6. capital — a city
  7. pop — soda
  8. content — the amount
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. net — for catching
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. net — in sport
  14. clip — a video
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — to drop
  17. content — happy
  18. clip — to cut
  19. pop — to visit
  20. fall — the season
  21. clip — for paper
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. pop — music
  24. net — after costs

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