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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. wind — moving air
  7. chair — a leader
  8. season — of the year
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. branch — a division
  11. face — part of the head
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. face — to confront
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. prune — to trim
  16. wind — moving air
  17. last — to go on
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. prune — to trim
  20. face — to point toward
  21. bat — the animal
  22. last — final
  23. last — finally
  24. season — in sport

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