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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. field — farmland
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. race — humankind
  6. fine — all right
  7. staff — a stick
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. field — a subject
  10. staff — employees
  11. race — a contest
  12. fine — high quality
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — a video
  15. race — the arms race
  16. staff — employees
  17. field — for sport
  18. content — the amount
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. clip — for paper
  21. snap — to click
  22. deal — to handle
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. fine — a penalty

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