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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: wound · clip · date · branch · last · present · bat · file

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wound — an injury
  3. present — the time now
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. present — a gift
  7. last — final
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. branch — a division
  10. file — a tool
  11. bat — the animal
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. date — the fruit
  14. last — finally
  15. wound — an injury
  16. clip — a video
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. file — a document
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. last — to go on
  21. present — there
  22. clip — for paper
  23. file — a line of people
  24. date — on the calendar

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