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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: rock · cell · foot · rest · content · rash · clip · game

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. foot — a measure
  3. clip — to cut
  4. content — the amount
  5. rest — a break
  6. cell — a phone
  7. rash — hasty
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. game — a match
  10. content — happy
  11. rash — a series
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. rock — music
  14. cell — in biology
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. clip — for paper
  17. rock — a stone
  18. rest — what's left
  19. rest — what's left
  20. clip — a video
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. game — wild animals
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. cell — in a prison

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