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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 116 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: fan · drill · straw · calf · field · branch · spring · capital

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — money
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. drill — army training
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. drill — the tool
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. spring — of water
  11. field — for sport
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. field — a subject
  15. spring — the season
  16. capital — a city
  17. field — farmland
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. spring — a coil
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. drill — a practice
  24. fan — a supporter

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