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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: march · cap · deal · wind · shower · mine · kick · branch

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. march — music
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. kick — in football
  6. cap — a lid
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. shower — to wash
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. march — the month
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cap — a hat
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. wind — moving air
  19. mine — for digging
  20. branch — a division
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. march — the month
  23. deal — to handle
  24. shower — rain

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