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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. chest — of your body
  3. content — the amount
  4. clip — for paper
  5. current — happening now
  6. chest — a box
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. chest — of your body
  10. current — electric
  11. clip — a video
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. branch — a division
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. snap — to click
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. content — happy
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. clip — to cut
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. current — of water

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