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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 116 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: stem · bark · wind · file · branch · land · row · ground

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. stem — to come from
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. wind — moving air
  8. row — a line
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. bark — to shout
  12. ground — a position
  13. land — a country
  14. row — to paddle
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. wind — moving air
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. branch — a division
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. file — a document
  22. ground — the earth
  23. land — to come down
  24. ground — crushed

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