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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: pitcher · band · branch · fall · cue · capital · fork · file

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. capital — money
  3. capital — a city
  4. cue — for pool
  5. cue — a signal
  6. branch — a division
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cue — a hint
  9. file — a document
  10. band — a music group
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. fall — to drop
  17. fall — to drop
  18. band — a ring
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fall — the season
  22. file — a line of people
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. branch — of a bank

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