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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: ball · chest · tear · wind · nail · cap · content · clip

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. tear — from crying
  3. content — happy
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. chest — of your body
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. ball — a great time
  10. ball — a dance
  11. clip — to cut
  12. tear — to rip
  13. chest — a box
  14. cap — of ice
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cap — a hat
  17. wind — moving air
  18. content — the amount
  19. clip — a video
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. wind — moving air
  22. clip — for paper
  23. chest — of your body
  24. nail — for a hammer

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