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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · lash · field · net · branch · bulb

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. branch — a division
  5. bulb — for light
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bulb — for light
  9. field — farmland
  10. net — in sport
  11. cold — not warm
  12. net — for catching
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. net — after costs
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. field — for sport
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. field — a subject

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