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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: march · clip · fan · charge · mine · branch · last · cold

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. branch — a division
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. last — finally
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. mine — for digging
  11. last — to go on
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. cold — not warm
  14. march — the month
  15. clip — for paper
  16. charge — electricity
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. charge — a price
  19. clip — to cut
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. clip — a video
  22. last — final
  23. march — the month
  24. charge — in control

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