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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 ________________ went through the wall.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. rash — a series
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. cold — an illness
  7. sharp — clever
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — for paper
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. content — the amount
  14. rash — hasty
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. spring — the season
  17. content — happy
  18. clip — to cut
  19. spring — of water
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. rush — hurry
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. spring — a coil

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