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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: roll · ball · wound · content · present · cold · clip · club

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. wound — an injury
  3. content — the amount
  4. content — happy
  5. roll — a cake
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. club — a group
  10. present — there
  11. clip — for paper
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. club — for golf
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. present — the time now
  17. ball — a dance
  18. ball — a great time
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. present — a gift
  22. club — for dancing
  23. cold — not warm
  24. ball — a round shape

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