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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  23. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. ball — a dance
  4. fall — to drop
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. wake — a trail
  9. clip — for paper
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. clip — a video
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. ball — a great time
  15. fall — to drop
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. content — the amount
  18. bark — to shout
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. fall — the season
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. ruler — a monarch
  24. clip — to cut

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