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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. tear — from crying
  3. current — electric
  4. prune — to trim
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. current — of water
  7. cold — not warm
  8. content — the amount
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. clip — to cut
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. branch — a division
  13. current — happening now
  14. prune — to trim
  15. clip — for paper
  16. content — happy
  17. chair — a leader
  18. cold — an illness
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. clip — a video
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — to rip
  24. chair — to sit on

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