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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 124 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. squash — to crush
  3. staff — a stick
  4. wind — moving air
  5. tube — the underground
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. prune — to trim
  8. staff — employees
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. wind — moving air
  14. branch — a division
  15. date — the fruit
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. prune — to trim
  18. staff — employees
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. squash — the sport
  21. tube — a container
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. content — the amount

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