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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 116 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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. content — happy
  3. march — the month
  4. net — for catching
  5. march — the month
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — a video
  8. file — a tool
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. sharp — clever
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. march — music
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. file — a document
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. file — a line of people
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. snap — to click
  19. content — the amount
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. clip — to cut
  22. fine — high quality
  23. net — after costs
  24. fine — all right

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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