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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. mate — to breed
  3. content — happy
  4. pound — a weight
  5. wind — moving air
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. bat — the animal
  8. clip — a video
  9. drill — a practice
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. wind — moving air
  14. content — the amount
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rule — government
  17. mate — a partner
  18. drill — the tool
  19. rule — a law
  20. drill — army training
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. mate — a friend
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bat — for baseball

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