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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. cell — in biology
  5. clip — a video
  6. kid — child
  7. cell — a phone
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. clip — for paper
  11. drill — a practice
  12. key — in music
  13. key — the most important part
  14. key — for a lock
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. content — happy
  17. drill — army training
  18. bark — to shout
  19. content — the amount
  20. stand — to bear
  21. kid — to tease
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. drill — the tool

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