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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. staff — employees
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. shower — to wash
  6. capital — a city
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — the season
  9. branch — a division
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. staff — a stick
  14. capital — money
  15. kid — to tease
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. shower — rain
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. staff — employees
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. bat — the animal
  23. fall — to drop
  24. kid — child

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