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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. branch — a division
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. stem — to come from
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. clip — to cut
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. game — wild animals
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. fork — in a road
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. capital — money
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — for paper
  24. game — a match

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