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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: tear · chair · band · press · branch · clip · land · bark

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. chair — a leader
  3. branch — a division
  4. band — a music group
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. land — a country
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. tear — from crying
  9. land — ground
  10. clip — to cut
  11. band — a ring
  12. clip — for paper
  13. press — newspapers
  14. clip — a video
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. press — to push
  19. tear — to rip
  20. press — a publisher
  21. bark — to shout
  22. land — to come down
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. band — a rubber band

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