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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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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: hand · mark · field · pitcher · rush · race · wax · branch

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. field — farmland
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. wax — to grow
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. hand — help
  8. race — the arms race
  9. branch — a division
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. race — a contest
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. mark — a grade
  16. rush — hurry
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — for sport
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. mark — a trace
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. hand — in cards
  24. race — humankind

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