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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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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: drill · spring · mate · clip · wind · branch · content · cue

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. cue — a signal
  3. wind — moving air
  4. mate — a friend
  5. content — the amount
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. cue — a hint
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. mate — a partner
  10. drill — the tool
  11. clip — for paper
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. mate — to breed
  16. drill — army training
  17. wind — moving air
  18. branch — a division
  19. spring — a coil
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. content — happy
  22. cue — for pool
  23. spring — of water
  24. drill — a practice

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