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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 116 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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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. cell — a phone
  4. tear — from crying
  5. net — in sport
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. cell — in biology
  9. branch — a division
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. tear — to rip
  15. face — to confront
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. net — after costs
  18. face — to point toward
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. content — the amount
  22. net — for catching
  23. face — part of the head
  24. straw — a straw man

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