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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: capital · file · branch · shower · mine · nail · swing · cold

  1. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. capital — a city
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. file — a document
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. mine — for digging
  10. shower — to wash
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. swing — music
  13. swing — to play on
  14. cold — not warm
  15. file — a tool
  16. capital — money
  17. shower — rain
  18. cold — an illness
  19. branch — a division
  20. file — a line of people
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. swing — in golf
  24. cold — the Cold War

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