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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. ball — a great time
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. cold — not warm
  5. clip — for paper
  6. cold — an illness
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chair — a leader
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. clip — to cut
  13. pit — a hole
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. bulb — for light
  17. ball — a dance
  18. clip — a video
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. pit — in a race
  21. content — happy
  22. bulb — for light
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. content — the amount

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