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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 116 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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. rule — a law
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. ball — a dance
  6. ground — a position
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. track — a song
  9. ball — a great time
  10. clip — a video
  11. ground — crushed
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. content — happy
  15. rule — government
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. track — a path
  19. clip — for paper
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. bark — to shout
  22. ground — the earth
  23. track — to keep track
  24. rule — to rule out

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