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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 120 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 chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. capital — money
  3. lean — to bend
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — a video
  6. land — to come down
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. content — happy
  9. land — ground
  10. capital — a city
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. march — the month
  13. branch — a division
  14. clip — to cut
  15. content — the amount
  16. march — music
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. lean — thin
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. land — a country
  21. drill — army training
  22. march — the month
  23. drill — the tool
  24. drill — a practice

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