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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. cue — a signal
  3. clip — a video
  4. row — a line
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. last — finally
  8. tear — from crying
  9. clip — for paper
  10. last — final
  11. ground — the earth
  12. cue — for pool
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. ground — a position
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cue — a hint
  17. last — to go on
  18. content — happy
  19. ground — crushed
  20. row — to paddle
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. tear — to rip
  23. clip — to cut
  24. tear — from crying

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