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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. game — wild animals
  4. clip — for paper
  5. tear — to rip
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. spring — a coil
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. spring — of water
  11. branch — a division
  12. tear — from crying
  13. chip — for betting
  14. game — a match
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. clip — a video
  17. spring — the season
  18. bear — the animal
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. tear — from crying
  21. clip — to cut
  22. chip — to eat
  23. row — to paddle
  24. bear — the animal

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