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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. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. last — to go on
  4. ground — a position
  5. spring — the season
  6. prune — to trim
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — to cut
  9. spring — a coil
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. ground — the earth
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. content — happy
  17. last — final
  18. content — the amount
  19. ground — crushed
  20. last — finally
  21. bear — the animal
  22. spring — of water
  23. clip — a video
  24. branch — a division

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