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

Word bank: bat · squash · clip · content · fork · patient · tear · dip

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. tear — from crying
  5. clip — to cut
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. tear — to rip
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. fork — in a road
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. squash — to crush
  13. bat — the animal
  14. clip — for paper
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. squash — the sport
  17. dip — to sink
  18. content — happy
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. clip — a video
  21. tear — from crying
  22. content — the amount
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. squash — the vegetable

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