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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 116 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: cue · content · bore · land · prune · tear · spring · wound

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. prune — to trim
  3. wound — an injury
  4. content — the amount
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. content — happy
  8. land — a country
  9. bore — to drill
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. cue — a signal
  12. bore — to tire
  13. tear — from crying
  14. cue — a hint
  15. land — ground
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cue — for pool
  19. wound — an injury
  20. spring — the season
  21. tear — to rip
  22. spring — of water
  23. land — to come down
  24. tear — from crying

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