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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: straw · band · ball · rash · present · clip · wax · branch

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. rash — a series
  3. present — a gift
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. branch — a division
  7. wax — to grow
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. present — the time now
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. present — there
  12. band — a ring
  13. ball — a great time
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. rash — hasty
  19. band — a music group
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. clip — for paper
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. straw — dry grass

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