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

Word bank: content · bear · fall · staff · clip · club · cell · fork

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  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. fall — the season
  3. fall — to drop
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. clip — for paper
  6. bear — the animal
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. club — for dancing
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. staff — employees
  11. staff — employees
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. content — the amount
  15. bear — the animal
  16. clip — a video
  17. staff — a stick
  18. cell — in biology
  19. club — a group
  20. cell — a phone
  21. club — for golf
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fork — in a road
  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