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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: chest · mug · rule · clip · prune · cap · object · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Where did you ________________ them?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. rule — government
  3. cap — a lid
  4. content — the amount
  5. prune — to trim
  6. cap — a hat
  7. chest — of your body
  8. clip — to cut
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. object — to protest
  12. cap — of ice
  13. mug — a cup
  14. rule — a law
  15. object — an aim
  16. mug — a face
  17. chest — of your body
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — a video
  20. object — a thing
  21. prune — to trim
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. chest — a box
  24. mug — to rob

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