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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. bank — for money
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. clip — for paper
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. net — after costs
  8. mine — for digging
  9. net — in sport
  10. content — happy
  11. wax — to grow
  12. clip — to cut
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. bank — for money
  15. content — the amount
  16. net — for catching
  17. branch — a division
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. bank — of a river
  24. clip — a video

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