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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: capital · prune · wound · clip · cell · branch · track · file

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. capital — money
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. file — a line of people
  5. clip — a video
  6. branch — a division
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. cell — in biology
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. file — a document
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. track — a path
  14. prune — to trim
  15. track — a song
  16. clip — to cut
  17. file — a tool
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cell — a phone
  21. wound — an injury
  22. prune — to trim
  23. clip — for paper
  24. capital — a city

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