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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: clip · firm · wind · root · hand · mine · branch · band

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. hand — help
  3. firm — steady
  4. root — the cause
  5. branch — a division
  6. firm — decided
  7. clip — to cut
  8. band — a music group
  9. mine — for digging
  10. clip — a video
  11. band — a ring
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. clip — for paper
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. wind — moving air
  17. root — of a plant
  18. firm — a company
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. root — of a word
  21. wind — moving air
  22. hand — in cards
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. mine — belonging to me

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