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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 120 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: kid · band · field · capital · branch · trunk · hide · staff

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. staff — employees
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. capital — money
  11. field — for sport
  12. field — a subject
  13. staff — a stick
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. band — a music group
  16. kid — to tease
  17. branch — a division
  18. capital — a city
  19. field — farmland
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. staff — employees
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. kid — child
  24. capital — a big letter

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