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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: land · fork · clip · bound · net · branch · hand · chest

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  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. clip — for paper
  2. chest — a box
  3. bound — tied together
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. bound — certain
  6. branch — a division
  7. net — after costs
  8. chest — of your body
  9. clip — a video
  10. chest — of your body
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. net — in sport
  14. fork — in a road
  15. net — for catching
  16. land — a country
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. bound — obliged
  19. land — ground
  20. hand — in cards
  21. land — to come down
  22. hand — help
  23. clip — to cut
  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