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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. club — for dancing
  3. net — in sport
  4. squash — the sport
  5. club — for golf
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cold — an illness
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chair — a leader
  11. root — the cause
  12. net — after costs
  13. net — for catching
  14. wound — an injury
  15. root — of a plant
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. club — a group
  20. root — of a word
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. squash — to crush
  24. branch — of a tree

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