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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: capital · hand · clip · fan · rush · field · spring · branch

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. field — a subject
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. clip — for paper
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. hand — help
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. clip — a video
  10. capital — money
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. field — farmland
  14. clip — to cut
  15. field — for sport
  16. hand — in cards
  17. spring — a coil
  18. capital — a city
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. rush — hurry
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  24. branch — a division

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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