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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. court — of law
  4. court — of a king
  5. capital — money
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. current — of water
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. clip — for paper
  10. capital — a city
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. bark — to shout
  13. court — for sport
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. current — happening now
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. clip — to cut
  19. branch — a division
  20. clip — a video
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. mine — for digging
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. capital — a big letter

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