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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. object — to protest
  4. content — the amount
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. court — of a king
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. content — happy
  12. court — for sport
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. clip — a video
  15. hand — in cards
  16. hand — help
  17. object — a thing
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. land — ground
  22. court — of law
  23. object — an aim
  24. jam — a tight spot

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