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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. net — for catching
  4. branch — a division
  5. hand — in cards
  6. field — a subject
  7. net — in sport
  8. field — farmland
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. spring — of water
  13. net — after costs
  14. spring — the season
  15. fine — all right
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. hand — help
  20. file — a document
  21. fine — high quality
  22. field — for sport
  23. file — a tool
  24. file — a line of people

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