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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 116 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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. cold — an illness
  6. drill — the tool
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. branch — a division
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. drill — army training
  14. drill — a practice
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — the animal
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. cold — not warm
  24. leaves — lets stay

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