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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: hand · branch · capital · snap · mouse · coach · ground · wind

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. ground — crushed
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. hand — help
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. snap — to click
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. wind — moving air
  11. hand — in cards
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. capital — money
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. wind — moving air
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. capital — a city
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. ground — the earth
  24. ground — a position

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