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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: march · bowl · ground · file · capital · face · branch · present

  1. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. march — the month
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. ground — a position
  5. file — a line of people
  6. face — to confront
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. present — a gift
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a tool
  11. ground — crushed
  12. face — to point toward
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. ground — the earth
  15. capital — a city
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. branch — a division
  18. face — part of the head
  19. present — there
  20. march — the month
  21. present — the time now
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. capital — money
  24. march — music

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