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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: bound · clip · wound · club · content · suit · key · cold

  1. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. When will it ________________ you to start?
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — in cards
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. suit — to fit
  4. club — for dancing
  5. cold — not warm
  6. clip — for paper
  7. key — the most important part
  8. clip — a video
  9. suit — clothes
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bound — certain
  12. bound — tied together
  13. content — happy
  14. club — a group
  15. bound — obliged
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. key — for a lock
  21. content — the amount
  22. clip — to cut
  23. club — for golf
  24. key — in music

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