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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: bark · hide · capital · race · track · net · branch · kid

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. branch — a division
  3. race — a contest
  4. bark — to shout
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. track — to keep track
  9. race — the arms race
  10. capital — money
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. track — a song
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. kid — to tease
  16. race — humankind
  17. net — after costs
  18. track — a path
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. net — for catching
  21. kid — child
  22. net — in sport
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. branch — of a tree

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