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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bat · scale · clip · file · bass · chair · content · firm

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. firm — a company
  5. file — a tool
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bass — the fish
  8. clip — for paper
  9. scale — size or range
  10. firm — decided
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. firm — steady
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. file — a document
  15. bass — low music
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. chair — a leader
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. scale — 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