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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. court — for sport
  4. tube — a container
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. sharp — clever
  7. clip — to cut
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. court — of a king
  10. kid — to tease
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. content — happy
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. kid — child
  15. clip — a video
  16. content — the amount
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. field — farmland
  19. clip — for paper
  20. court — of law
  21. field — a subject
  22. tube — the underground
  23. field — for sport
  24. sharp — exactly

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