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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 116 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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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: branch · kid · bass · capital · pound · scale · trunk · clip

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. kid — to tease
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. pound — a weight
  5. kid — child
  6. branch — a division
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — a city
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. scale — in music
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — to cut
  18. capital — money
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. bass — the fish
  21. clip — for paper
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. bass — low music
  24. scale — size or range

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