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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 120 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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. prune — to trim
  3. net — for catching
  4. clip — to cut
  5. net — in sport
  6. prune — to trim
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. board — to get on
  9. fine — all right
  10. fine — high quality
  11. board — a committee
  12. branch — a division
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. clip — for paper
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. field — for sport
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. field — farmland
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. clip — a video
  23. field — a subject
  24. branch — of a tree

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