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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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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: field · face · shower · snap · dip · branch · march · rule

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. march — music
  4. branch — a division
  5. field — farmland
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. shower — to wash
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. rule — government
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. shower — rain
  13. rule — a law
  14. face — to point toward
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. snap — to click
  17. face — to confront
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. march — the month
  20. march — the month
  21. field — a subject
  22. dip — to sink
  23. face — part of the head
  24. field — for sport

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