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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: branch · present · sharp · court · wound · cell · field · clip

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. present — a gift
  4. clip — for paper
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. present — the time now
  7. clip — a video
  8. court — for sport
  9. present — there
  10. cell — a phone
  11. court — of a king
  12. sharp — clever
  13. cell — in biology
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. branch — a division
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. court — of law
  19. wound — an injury
  20. field — for sport
  21. wound — an injury
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. clip — to cut
  24. field — farmland

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