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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: band · land · lash · clip · fork · bulb · hand · branch

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. fork — in a road
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. clip — to cut
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. band — a ring
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. bulb — for light
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. land — a country
  14. hand — in cards
  15. clip — a video
  16. branch — a division
  17. hand — help
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. bulb — for light
  20. band — a music group
  21. land — ground
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. clip — for paper
  24. land — to come down

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