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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: game · branch · fork · drill · band · stick · hand · bat

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. drill — army training
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. bat — the animal
  5. band — a music group
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. game — a match
  10. drill — a practice
  11. fork — in a road
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. hand — help
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. hand — in cards
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. game — wild animals
  22. branch — a division
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. drill — the tool

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