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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. roll — a cake
  4. content — the amount
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. kid — to tease
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. squash — the sport
  10. kid — child
  11. clip — a video
  12. rest — what's left
  13. bat — the animal
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. squash — to crush
  16. content — happy
  17. rest — what's left
  18. roll — a list
  19. clip — to cut
  20. land — a country
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. land — ground
  23. rest — a break
  24. land — to come down

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