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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: field · branch · wind · land · bark · bat · straw · chair

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. field — a subject
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. land — to come down
  6. branch — a division
  7. wind — moving air
  8. bark — to shout
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. land — a country
  11. chair — a leader
  12. land — ground
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. field — for sport
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — the animal
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. field — farmland
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. chair — to sit on

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