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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: straw · saw · mine · bat · mate · branch · bark · clip

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. mate — a friend
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. mine — for digging
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. clip — for paper
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. bark — to shout
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. saw — the tool
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — a video
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. mate — a partner
  19. branch — a division
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. saw — the tool
  22. mate — to breed
  23. clip — to cut
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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