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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: clip · cell · pit · branch · wound · land · bear · trunk

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. bear — the animal
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. clip — for paper
  6. pit — a hole
  7. wound — an injury
  8. branch — a division
  9. cell — in biology
  10. bear — the animal
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. land — ground
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. cell — a phone
  15. pit — in a race
  16. land — a country
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — a video
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. wound — an injury
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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