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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 120 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: present · can · branch · content · bat · bore · cold · perch

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. content — happy
  3. present — a gift
  4. content — the amount
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bat — the animal
  8. can — a tin
  9. bore — to drill
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. present — there
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. cold — an illness
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. bore — to tire
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. perch — the fish
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. can — to be able to
  21. can — a tin
  22. branch — a division
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. present — the time now

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