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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — for paper
  9. chest — of your body
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. bass — the fish
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. chest — a box
  15. sharp — clever
  16. rush — hurry
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. bass — low music
  19. wax — to grow
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. clip — a video
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. content — the amount

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