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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: chair · mine · shower · march · nail · bass · band · branch

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. bass — the fish
  5. mine — for digging
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. march — the month
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. march — music
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. march — the month
  12. shower — to wash
  13. branch — a division
  14. chair — a leader
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. bass — low music
  21. shower — rain
  22. band — a music group
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. mine — an explosive

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