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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 116 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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: tear · branch · race · chair · craft · press

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. race — a contest
  3. craft — a skill
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. chair — a leader
  6. tear — from crying
  7. craft — boats
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. branch — a division
  10. press — a publisher
  11. press — to push
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. tear — from crying
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. race — the arms race
  16. race — humankind
  17. tear — to rip
  18. press — newspapers

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