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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. land — a country
  4. tube — the underground
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. prune — to trim
  7. tear — from crying
  8. land — to come down
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. tear — to rip
  11. row — a line
  12. tear — from crying
  13. row — to paddle
  14. bear — the animal
  15. spring — the season
  16. land — ground
  17. bear — the animal
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. tube — a container
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. branch — a division
  22. prune — to trim
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spring — of water

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