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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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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: spring · content · chest · clip · bank · bore · fan · net

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. spring — a coil
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. net — for catching
  6. spring — of water
  7. content — the amount
  8. clip — for paper
  9. net — in sport
  10. bank — for money
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. bore — to drill
  14. bank — for money
  15. chest — a box
  16. bank — of a river
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. net — after costs
  19. spring — the season
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — a video
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. bore — to tire

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