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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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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: kick · roll · pass · cold · clip · root · branch · hand

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. clip — for paper
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. hand — in cards
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. pass — a permit
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. roll — a cake
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. clip — a video
  13. hand — help
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. root — the cause
  16. root — of a plant
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. clip — to cut
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. kick — in football
  21. cold — not warm
  22. roll — a list
  23. root — of a word
  24. kick — a thrill

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