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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 120 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: shower · club · mate · branch · key · trunk · capital · root

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. shower — to wash
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. mate — a friend
  5. shower — rain
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. club — for dancing
  10. root — of a word
  11. root — of a plant
  12. key — in music
  13. mate — a partner
  14. club — for golf
  15. key — for a lock
  16. root — the cause
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. branch — a division
  21. capital — a city
  22. mate — to breed
  23. capital — money
  24. club — a group

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