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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: wound · bowl · mine · fall · swing · bore · branch · face

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. face — to point toward
  3. bore — to drill
  4. fall — to drop
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. fall — the season
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. face — to confront
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bore — to tire
  13. fall — to drop
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. wound — an injury
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. face — part of the head
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. mine — for digging
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. swing — to play on
  23. swing — music
  24. swing — in golf

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