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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: kid · branch · chair · tear · arm · cap · prune · march

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. march — the month
  3. chair — a leader
  4. march — music
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. branch — a division
  10. cap — of ice
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. cap — a hat
  14. prune — to trim
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. cap — a lid
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. march — the month
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. kid — to tease
  22. prune — to trim
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. kid — child

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