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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 · kid · spell · hand · pound · clip · cell · arm

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. kid — child
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. branch — a division
  5. cell — in biology
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. cell — a phone
  8. spell — magic
  9. pound — a weight
  10. hand — in cards
  11. clip — for paper
  12. kid — to tease
  13. spell — a short time
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. clip — a video
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. spell — letters
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. clip — to cut

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