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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: branch · bark · ground · row · mine · tear · press · kid

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. tear — to rip
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. row — a line
  6. press — to push
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. bark — to shout
  9. branch — a division
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tear — from crying
  13. ground — crushed
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. press — newspapers
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. row — to paddle
  19. ground — a position
  20. press — a publisher
  21. ground — the earth
  22. kid — to tease
  23. kid — child
  24. mine — for digging

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