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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 116 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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. wound — an injury
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. root — of a word
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. row — a line
  9. content — happy
  10. row — to paddle
  11. root — the cause
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. content — the amount
  14. wound — an injury
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. tube — a container
  17. tube — the underground
  18. root — of a plant
  19. branch — a division
  20. clip — to cut
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. clip — a video
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. clip — for paper

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