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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. land — ground
  3. branch — a division
  4. key — for a lock
  5. tube — the underground
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. key — the most important part
  9. content — the amount
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. hand — in cards
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. key — in music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. tube — a container
  17. cold — an illness
  18. row — to paddle
  19. land — to come down
  20. cold — not warm
  21. content — happy
  22. hand — help
  23. land — a country
  24. row — a line

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