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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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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: deal · branch · vault · capital · band · hand · file · press

  1. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. deal — to handle
  3. band — a music group
  4. press — to push
  5. capital — money
  6. press — a publisher
  7. hand — help
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. file — a tool
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. band — a ring
  13. capital — a city
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. vault — a safe
  18. branch — a division
  19. hand — in cards
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. press — newspapers
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a document

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