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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: clip · branch · club · pitch · band · wound · court · bank

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. bank — of a river
  3. court — for sport
  4. clip — for paper
  5. pitch — completely
  6. bank — for money
  7. bank — for money
  8. branch — a division
  9. band — a music group
  10. club — for golf
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. court — of a king
  13. clip — a video
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. clip — to cut
  16. wound — an injury
  17. club — a group
  18. club — for dancing
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. band — a ring
  21. wound — an injury
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. court — of law
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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