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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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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. wind — moving air
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. wind — moving air
  6. last — finally
  7. cold — not warm
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. last — final
  10. branch — a division
  11. scale — in music
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cold — an illness
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. scale — size or range
  22. last — to go on
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. clip — a video

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