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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. cell — a phone
  3. branch — a division
  4. rash — hasty
  5. cap — of ice
  6. clip — for paper
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. content — happy
  13. fine — high quality
  14. stand — to bear
  15. fine — all right
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cap — a hat
  19. clip — to cut
  20. rash — a series
  21. cap — a lid
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. cell — in biology
  24. clip — a video

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