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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: leaves · wind · last · clip · content · ground · safe · row

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. clip — a video
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. row — a line
  6. ground — the earth
  7. safe — a strongbox
  8. ground — crushed
  9. wind — moving air
  10. content — the amount
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. wind — moving air
  15. last — to go on
  16. row — to paddle
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. ground — a position
  20. content — happy
  21. clip — to cut
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. clip — for paper

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