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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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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: pound · hand · file · band · root · branch · bound · tear

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. pound — a weight
  3. tear — from crying
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. hand — help
  6. file — a tool
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. branch — a division
  9. root — of a plant
  10. band — a music group
  11. tear — to rip
  12. file — a line of people
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. root — of a word
  17. bound — certain
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. bound — tied together
  20. hand — in cards
  21. bound — obliged
  22. file — a document
  23. band — a ring
  24. root — the cause

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