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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. capital — money
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. bark — to shout
  5. tear — from crying
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. content — the amount
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. branch — a division
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. stock — goods
  12. tear — to rip
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. prune — to trim
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. tear — from crying
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. stock — shares
  20. capital — a city
  21. content — happy
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. ruler — a monarch
  24. ruler — for measuring

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