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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: track · clip · wind · kid · dip · branch · ground · firm

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. firm — steady
  3. track — a path
  4. ground — crushed
  5. clip — to cut
  6. firm — a company
  7. dip — to sink
  8. clip — for paper
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. branch — a division
  11. ground — a position
  12. track — a song
  13. wind — moving air
  14. kid — child
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. wind — moving air
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. clip — a video
  19. firm — decided
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. kid — to tease
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. ground — the earth
  24. branch — of a tree

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