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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: cold · field · clip · date · stock · prune · board · branch

  1. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  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. branch — of a bank
  2. cold — not warm
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. cold — an illness
  5. prune — to trim
  6. date — the fruit
  7. stock — shares
  8. field — a subject
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. board — a committee
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. field — for sport
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. clip — for paper
  15. stock — goods
  16. clip — a video
  17. field — farmland
  18. board — to get on
  19. clip — to cut
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. branch — a division
  22. prune — to trim
  23. date — on the calendar
  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