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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. clip — for paper
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. content — the amount
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. bark — to shout
  11. content — happy
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. cold — an illness
  14. swing — to play on
  15. clip — a video
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. dip — to sink
  18. vault — a safe
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. swing — in golf
  21. branch — a division
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. swing — 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