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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. capital — money
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. mine — for digging
  6. field — farmland
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. band — a ring
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. band — a music group
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. pitch — completely
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. branch — a division
  20. field — a subject
  21. wax — to grow
  22. capital — a city
  23. field — for sport
  24. branch — of a tree

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