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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: mug · dip · clip · chair · content · arm · tube · cold

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. content — the amount
  4. cold — an illness
  5. clip — a video
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. tube — the underground
  8. mug — to rob
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. tube — a container
  13. clip — for paper
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. mug — a face
  16. clip — to cut
  17. dip — to sink
  18. mug — a cup
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. content — happy
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. arm — part of the body

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