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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. season — of the year
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bass — low music
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. cold — an illness
  10. prune — to trim
  11. root — of a plant
  12. mine — for digging
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. root — of a word
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bass — the fish
  18. lean — thin
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. season — in sport
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. lean — to bend
  23. branch — a division
  24. root — the cause

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