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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — for sport
  3. prune — to trim
  4. chest — a box
  5. prune — to trim
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. capital — a city
  11. drill — army training
  12. field — a subject
  13. drill — a practice
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. spell — magic
  17. chest — of your body
  18. capital — money
  19. drill — the tool
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. chest — of your body
  22. spell — a short time
  23. spell — letters
  24. branch — a division

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