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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: pound · craft · content · last · chair · clip

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. content — happy
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. chair — a leader
  5. last — finally
  6. last — to go on
  7. pound — a weight
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — a video
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. craft — a skill
  12. craft — boats
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. content — the amount
  15. last — final
  16. clip — for paper
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. content — videos and posts

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