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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. clip — for paper
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. squash — to crush
  9. clip — to cut
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. spring — of water
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — happy
  16. chair — a leader
  17. clip — a video
  18. branch — a division
  19. spring — a coil
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. spring — the season
  22. squash — the sport
  23. wake — a trail
  24. rush — hurry

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