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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bulb — for light
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bulb — for light
  8. wound — an injury
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. clip — a video
  11. stock — shares
  12. clip — to cut
  13. cell — a phone
  14. stock — goods
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. branch — a division
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. bowl — a football final

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