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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 120 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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. clip — a video
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. present — the time now
  5. bore — to tire
  6. present — a gift
  7. clip — for paper
  8. present — there
  9. branch — a division
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. bore — to drill
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. clip — to cut
  17. squash — the sport
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. content — the amount
  20. squash — to crush
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. mine — for digging
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. dip — to sink

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