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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. chest — of your body
  3. branch — a division
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. prune — to trim
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. prune — to trim
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — to cut
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. chest — a box
  15. capital — a city
  16. bound — obliged
  17. rock — a stone
  18. chair — a leader
  19. capital — money
  20. bound — certain
  21. clip — a video
  22. rock — music
  23. bound — tied together
  24. chest — of your body

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