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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: content · lean · bark · branch · cold · march · tube · tear

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. tear — from crying
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. bark — to shout
  5. content — the amount
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. tube — a container
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. march — music
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. branch — a division
  15. cold — an illness
  16. tube — the underground
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. cold — not warm
  19. lean — thin
  20. lean — to bend
  21. tear — to rip
  22. content — happy
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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