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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: hand · ball · spring · wax · cell · capital · racket · branch

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. cell — in biology
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. hand — in cards
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. ball — a great time
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. capital — a city
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. wax — to grow
  16. hand — help
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cell — a phone
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. spring — of water
  21. spring — the season
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. ball — a dance
  24. capital — money

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