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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. clip — a video
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. clip — for paper
  10. mark — a grade
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. kid — to tease
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. kid — child
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. clip — to cut
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. dip — to sink
  20. chair — a leader
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. mark — a trace
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — the amount

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