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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 surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. land — to come down
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. bore — to drill
  7. chair — a leader
  8. bore — to tire
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. land — ground
  16. branch — a division
  17. squash — to crush
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. land — a country
  21. squash — the sport
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — the animal
  24. clip — to cut

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