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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. content — the amount
  6. club — for dancing
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. club — for golf
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. clip — for paper
  13. band — a ring
  14. clip — to cut
  15. club — a group
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. pound — a weight
  19. band — a music group
  20. content — happy
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. pound — for dogs
  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