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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: rock · clip · fork · content · swing · tear · tube · leaves

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. content — happy
  3. tube — the underground
  4. rock — music
  5. clip — a video
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. swing — music
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. fork — in a road
  12. swing — to play on
  13. tear — to rip
  14. content — the amount
  15. clip — to cut
  16. rock — a stone
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. tube — a container
  19. clip — for paper
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. swing — in golf

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