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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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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 · shower · bark · capital · wound · plane · swing · hand

  1. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. bark — to shout
  6. wound — an injury
  7. swing — to play on
  8. capital — a city
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. shower — rain
  13. capital — money
  14. wound — an injury
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. plane — a tool
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. shower — to wash
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. branch — a division
  22. hand — help
  23. hand — in cards
  24. swing — music

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