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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. game — wild animals
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. clip — for paper
  7. field — farmland
  8. branch — a division
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. hand — help
  11. content — the amount
  12. field — a subject
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. capital — a city
  18. clip — a video
  19. content — happy
  20. game — a match
  21. field — for sport
  22. clip — to cut
  23. capital — money
  24. stick — a piece of wood

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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