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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: pop · hand · mine · kid · branch · spring · scale · fall

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. pop — soda
  3. pop — music
  4. hand — help
  5. fall — to drop
  6. spring — a coil
  7. fall — to drop
  8. branch — a division
  9. mine — for digging
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. fall — the season
  13. kid — to tease
  14. spring — the season
  15. scale — in music
  16. hand — in cards
  17. spring — of water
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. scale — size or range
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. kid — child
  24. mine — belonging to me

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