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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: branch · cell · club · perch · clip · fork · snap · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. snap — to click
  3. club — a group
  4. branch — a division
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. clip — a video
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. clip — to cut
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. capital — money
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. fork — in a road
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cell — a phone
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. clip — for paper
  20. perch — the fish
  21. club — for golf
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. cell — in biology
  24. club — for dancing

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