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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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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: firm · clip · bay · bowl · game · content · cold · kick

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. firm — a company
  3. bay — to keep at bay
  4. game — wild animals
  5. bay — a part of the sea
  6. content — the amount
  7. kick — in football
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. firm — steady
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. firm — decided
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. game — a match
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cold — an illness
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. clip — a video
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. cold — not warm

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