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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. cap — of ice
  3. season — of the year
  4. clip — for paper
  5. mine — for digging
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. clip — a video
  8. wound — an injury
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. season — in sport
  12. pop — music
  13. content — happy
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. cap — a lid
  17. cap — a hat
  18. clip — to cut
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. wound — an injury
  22. pop — soda
  23. content — the amount
  24. pop — to visit

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