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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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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. current — happening now
  4. branch — a division
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. date — the fruit
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. chest — a box
  16. pound — a weight
  17. sharp — clever
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. wind — moving air
  21. current — electric
  22. current — of water
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cold — not warm

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