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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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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rule — a law
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. shower — to wash
  11. branch — a division
  12. bass — low music
  13. tear — to rip
  14. cold — an illness
  15. stick — to attach or keep to
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. bass — the fish
  18. tear — from crying
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. rule — government
  21. shower — rain
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bat — in an idiom

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