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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: arm · present · capital · branch · cell · wind · trunk · field

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. field — farmland
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. capital — money
  5. wind — moving air
  6. present — the time now
  7. branch — a division
  8. present — there
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. present — a gift
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cell — a phone
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. field — a subject
  22. capital — a city
  23. field — for sport
  24. cell — in biology

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