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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. field — a subject
  3. branch — a division
  4. pit — in a race
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. pit — a hole
  7. clip — to cut
  8. capital — a city
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bass — low music
  13. clip — for paper
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. wind — moving air
  16. bass — the fish
  17. clip — a video
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. field — farmland
  21. capital — money
  22. wind — moving air
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. field — for sport

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