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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 didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. clip — for paper
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. clip — to cut
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. deal — to handle
  9. net — after costs
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. scale — in music
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. branch — a division
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. net — in sport
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. kid — to tease
  19. scale — size or range
  20. wake — a trail
  21. clip — a video
  22. net — for catching
  23. kid — child
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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