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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 · nail · cell · field · spell · branch · march · bat

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. field — a subject
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. bat — the animal
  5. field — for sport
  6. band — a music group
  7. march — music
  8. march — the month
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. field — farmland
  11. branch — a division
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. spell — a short time
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. spell — letters
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. cell — in biology
  18. march — the month
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. cell — a phone
  21. band — a ring
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. spell — magic
  24. nail — for a hammer

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