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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. net — in sport
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. pop — music
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. hand — help
  8. saw — the tool
  9. branch — a division
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. mine — for digging
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. saw — the tool
  15. row — a line
  16. pop — soda
  17. row — to paddle
  18. hand — in cards
  19. net — after costs
  20. capital — a city
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. capital — money
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. net — for catching

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