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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: field · march · bat · current · swing · wake · branch · snap

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. bat — the animal
  5. branch — a division
  6. swing — to play on
  7. march — the month
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. wake — a trail
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. march — the month
  12. snap — to click
  13. field — for sport
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. current — of water
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. swing — music
  20. current — electric
  21. current — happening now
  22. march — music
  23. field — a subject
  24. swing — in golf

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