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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 120 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. hand — help
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bear — the animal
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. hand — in cards
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. cold — not warm
  18. chest — a box
  19. vault — a safe
  20. cold — an illness
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. bear — the animal
  23. dip — to sink
  24. branch — of a bank

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