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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.

Make a worksheet

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: cell · bat · hand · spring · branch · last

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. last — final
  4. last — finally
  5. hand — help
  6. spring — a coil
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. cell — a phone
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. spring — the season
  12. last — to go on
  13. branch — a division
  14. spring — of water
  15. hand — in cards
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bat — in an idiom

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