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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 was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. chest — of your body
  3. clip — a video
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. clip — for paper
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. last — finally
  13. clip — to cut
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. last — final
  16. chest — of your body
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. hand — help
  19. branch — a division
  20. last — to go on
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. mine — for digging
  23. hand — in cards
  24. chest — a box

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