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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 116 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 · hand · charge · field · snap · bay · bat · net

  1. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. snap — to click
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. hand — in cards
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. net — for catching
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. bat — the animal
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. hand — help
  16. net — in sport
  17. charge — in control
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. net — after costs
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. charge — a price
  23. branch — a division
  24. bat — for baseball

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