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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: content · land · snap · drill · squash · sharp · scale · branch

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. land — a country
  3. sharp — clever
  4. drill — army training
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. snap — to click
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. drill — a practice
  11. land — to come down
  12. squash — the sport
  13. content — happy
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. content — the amount
  18. land — ground
  19. scale — in music
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. squash — to crush
  23. scale — size or range
  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