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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. charge — a price
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. wax — to grow
  5. charge — in control
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. chest — of your body
  9. march — music
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. kid — child
  12. march — the month
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. chest — a box
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. chest — of your body
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. branch — a division
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. kid — to tease
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. march — the month
  24. charge — electricity

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