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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. content — happy
  3. bear — the animal
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. court — for sport
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. bat — the animal
  11. court — of law
  12. roll — a cake
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. roll — a list
  15. chair — a leader
  16. clip — a video
  17. court — of a king
  18. content — the amount
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bear — the animal
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. bat — for baseball

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