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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
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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: mine · net · wax · racket · coach · branch · cold · clip

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. cold — an illness
  4. branch — a division
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. net — after costs
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. clip — a video
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. clip — for paper
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. wax — to grow
  20. cold — not warm
  21. net — in sport
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. mine — for digging
  24. clip — to cut

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