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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. rash — hasty
  4. track — to keep track
  5. row — a line
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. branch — a division
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. track — a song
  12. board — a committee
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. track — a path
  15. board — to get on
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. clip — a video
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. rash — a series
  21. row — to paddle
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. clip — to cut

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