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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: content · tube · cold · squash · branch · pound · land · snap

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  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. snap — to snap out of it
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. snap — to click
  4. land — to come down
  5. content — the amount
  6. squash — the sport
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. land — a country
  9. squash — to crush
  10. tube — the underground
  11. land — ground
  12. tube — a container
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — a division
  18. pound — a weight
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. content — happy
  23. content — videos and posts
  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