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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. chest — a box
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. board — a committee
  9. branch — a division
  10. stock — shares
  11. prune — to trim
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. cold — an illness
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. stock — goods
  17. foot — a measure
  18. chest — of your body
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. board — to get on
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — not warm

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