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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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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: club · land · clip · branch · kick · cap · tear · date

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. date — the fruit
  3. club — a group
  4. cap — a hat
  5. clip — for paper
  6. tear — to rip
  7. land — ground
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. kick — in football
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cap — a lid
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. land — a country
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — a division
  18. club — for dancing
  19. tear — from crying
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. clip — to cut
  22. land — to come down
  23. cap — of ice
  24. clip — a video

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