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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. last — finally
  4. track — a song
  5. branch — a division
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. last — final
  8. track — to keep track
  9. cell — in biology
  10. march — music
  11. last — to go on
  12. track — a path
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. march — the month
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. mine — for digging
  17. pound — a weight
  18. march — the month
  19. field — a subject
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. field — farmland
  22. cell — a phone
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. field — for sport

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