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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: pound · cue · bulb · band · branch · clip · kid · stem

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. clip — for paper
  3. cue — for pool
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. branch — a division
  6. band — a music group
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cue — a signal
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. stem — to come from
  12. cue — a hint
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. band — a ring
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. bulb — for light
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. bulb — for light
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. pound — a weight

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