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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: prune · chip · jam · tear · chest · tube · content · spring

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — a coil
  6. chip — to eat
  7. chest — of your body
  8. prune — to trim
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. tube — the underground
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. prune — to trim
  13. chip — for betting
  14. tear — from crying
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. spring — of water
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. tube — a container
  21. tear — from crying
  22. chest — a box
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. prune — the fruit

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