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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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Word bank
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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: swing · capital · clip · branch · saw · prune · dip · hand

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. saw — the tool
  3. clip — to cut
  4. swing — music
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. swing — in golf
  9. clip — for paper
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. branch — a division
  12. capital — a city
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. prune — to trim
  15. capital — money
  16. swing — to play on
  17. hand — in cards
  18. prune — to trim
  19. clip — a video
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. saw — the tool
  22. dip — to sink
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. prune — the fruit

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