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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. cold — not warm
  4. net — for catching
  5. shower — rain
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. net — after costs
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. perch — the fish
  11. stem — to come from
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. cold — an illness
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. shower — to wash
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. net — in sport

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