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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. content — the amount
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. tear — from crying
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. kid — child
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. clip — a video
  11. content — happy
  12. firm — a company
  13. tear — from crying
  14. clip — for paper
  15. wake — a trail
  16. firm — steady
  17. firm — decided
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. tear — to rip
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. sharp — clever
  24. clip — to cut

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