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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: arm · current · band · bark · cold · clip · branch · snap

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. band — a ring
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. cold — an illness
  7. clip — for paper
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. snap — to click
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. clip — to cut
  12. current — of water
  13. current — happening now
  14. current — electric
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. bark — to shout
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. clip — a video
  19. branch — a division
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. band — a music group
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — of a bank

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