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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  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. mine — for digging
  2. sharp — clever
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. tube — the underground
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. content — happy
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. bear — the animal
  11. bear — the animal
  12. season — of the year
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bark — to shout
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. content — the amount
  18. clip — for paper
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. tube — a container
  22. season — in sport
  23. clip — to cut
  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