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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: cold · branch · content · hide · drill · clip · season · saw

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. drill — army training
  4. saw — the tool
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. cold — an illness
  7. content — happy
  8. drill — a practice
  9. clip — for paper
  10. season — in sport
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. clip — a video
  14. branch — a division
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. season — of the year
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. drill — the tool
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. clip — to cut
  23. saw — the tool
  24. content — the amount

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