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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: branch · plane · clip · swing · march · wax · court · current

  1. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. branch — a division
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. swing — music
  5. march — music
  6. clip — to cut
  7. current — electric
  8. swing — in golf
  9. wax — to grow
  10. court — of law
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. march — the month
  13. plane — a tool
  14. current — happening now
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — a video
  18. court — for sport
  19. court — of a king
  20. march — the month
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. swing — to play on
  24. plane — an aircraft

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