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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. clip — for paper
  3. present — there
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. present — the time now
  6. clip — a video
  7. branch — a division
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. clip — to cut
  12. kick — in football
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. bat — the animal
  15. race — a contest
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. cell — a phone
  19. race — the arms race
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. race — humankind
  22. cell — in biology
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. present — a gift

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