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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. content — happy
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. clip — to cut
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. bulb — for light
  7. court — of law
  8. clip — for paper
  9. row — to paddle
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. bulb — for light
  12. row — a line
  13. clip — a video
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. swing — music
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. court — for sport
  18. branch — a division
  19. court — of a king
  20. content — the amount
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. swing — to play on
  23. swing — in golf
  24. row — a quarrel

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