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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 116 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: mine · field · branch · rush · bore · wound · capital · bat

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. field — a subject
  3. bore — to tire
  4. bat — the animal
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. branch — a division
  8. field — farmland
  9. bore — to drill
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. wound — an injury
  13. rush — hurry
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mine — for digging
  20. field — for sport
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — money
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. wound — an injury

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