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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: chair · fine · branch · hand · ground · lean · trunk · tear

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. lean — thin
  3. tear — to rip
  4. ground — crushed
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. ground — a position
  9. branch — a division
  10. tear — from crying
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. fine — high quality
  13. ground — the earth
  14. lean — to bend
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. tear — from crying
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. chair — a leader
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. hand — in cards
  23. fine — all right
  24. fine — a penalty

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