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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. spring — of water
  3. clip — to cut
  4. game — wild animals
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. squash — to crush
  7. squash — the sport
  8. clip — a video
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. spring — the season
  12. clip — for paper
  13. branch — a division
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. cell — in biology
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. spring — a coil
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. perch — the fish
  21. dip — to sink
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. game — a match
  24. cell — a phone

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