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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 124 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bank — for money
  3. rule — a law
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. spell — a short time
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. content — the amount
  8. spring — the season
  9. spell — letters
  10. capital — a city
  11. bank — for money
  12. clip — to cut
  13. bulb — for light
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — money
  16. bulb — for light
  17. spell — magic
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — a video
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. rule — government
  22. spring — of water
  23. bank — of a river
  24. spring — a coil

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