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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. mark — a trace
  3. swing — in golf
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. swing — music
  6. cell — a phone
  7. swing — to play on
  8. tear — from crying
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — a coil
  13. branch — a division
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. tear — to rip
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. mark — a grade
  21. cell — in biology
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. file — a document

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