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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: kid · branch · track · fall · fan · jam · field · clip

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. clip — to cut
  5. track — a path
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. kid — to tease
  8. fall — to drop
  9. fall — the season
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. clip — for paper
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. fall — to drop
  14. kid — child
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. track — to keep track
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. track — a song
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. field — for sport
  21. clip — a video
  22. jam — to spread on bread
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. branch — a division

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