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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: branch · wind · roll · mine · sharp · net · cell · spring

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. cell — a phone
  4. spring — the season
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. roll — a list
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. net — in sport
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. mine — for digging
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. branch — a division
  14. roll — a cake
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wind — moving air
  18. net — for catching
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. net — after costs
  21. cell — in biology
  22. sharp — clever
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. wind — to turn a key

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