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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 116 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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. spring — of water
  3. cold — an illness
  4. clip — to cut
  5. firm — decided
  6. dip — to sink
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. spell — magic
  11. clip — a video
  12. current — happening now
  13. cold — not warm
  14. current — of water
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. current — electric
  17. content — the amount
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spell — letters
  20. spell — a short time
  21. firm — steady
  22. content — happy
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. dip — to dunk

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