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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 120 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: hand · branch · file · pit · capital · tear · cap · kid

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. hand — help
  3. tear — to rip
  4. kid — child
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. capital — money
  7. file — a line of people
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. file — a document
  10. cap — a hat
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. pit — a hole
  14. pit — in a race
  15. file — a tool
  16. cap — of ice
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — from crying
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. cap — a lid
  21. kid — to tease
  22. capital — a city
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. branch — a division

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