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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. tear — from crying
  3. prune — to trim
  4. rock — a stone
  5. drill — army training
  6. tear — to rip
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. drill — a practice
  9. content — the amount
  10. season — of the year
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. prune — to trim
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. drill — the tool
  16. mine — for digging
  17. tear — from crying
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. season — in sport
  21. rock — music
  22. dip — to sink
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. mine — belonging to me

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