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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — to come down
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. wound — an injury
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. branch — a division
  10. spell — letters
  11. bat — the animal
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. spell — magic
  16. fork — in a road
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. wound — an injury
  21. land — a country
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. spell — a short time

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