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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. spring — the season
  4. bark — to shout
  5. spring — a coil
  6. saw — the tool
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. row — a line
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. branch — a division
  12. kid — to tease
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. row — to paddle
  15. kid — child
  16. lean — to bend
  17. shower — rain
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. shower — to wash
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. saw — the tool
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. spring — of water

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