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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: band · march · branch · fork · cap · land · field · spring

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. land — a country
  3. march — music
  4. field — a subject
  5. spring — of water
  6. spring — the season
  7. cap — of ice
  8. cap — a lid
  9. fork — in a road
  10. branch — a division
  11. band — a music group
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. cap — a hat
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. march — the month
  17. march — the month
  18. land — ground
  19. land — to come down
  20. band — a ring
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. field — for sport
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. spring — a coil

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