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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. season — in sport
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. clip — a video
  8. content — the amount
  9. bat — the animal
  10. clip — for paper
  11. fall — to drop
  12. deal — to handle
  13. pound — a weight
  14. kid — to tease
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. season — of the year
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. clip — to cut
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. content — happy
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. fall — the season
  24. kid — child

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