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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: land · coach · spell · clip · file · branch · drill · chest

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. chest — of your body
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. spell — a short time
  5. chest — a box
  6. clip — a video
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. spell — letters
  11. file — a tool
  12. clip — to cut
  13. land — to come down
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — the tool
  16. file — a document
  17. land — a country
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. file — a line of people
  20. land — ground
  21. spell — magic
  22. clip — for paper
  23. drill — army training
  24. chest — of your body

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