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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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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: bat · cold · lean · net · branch · chest · leaves · bass

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  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. lean — to rest against
  2. lean — thin
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. lean — to bend
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. net — after costs
  11. net — for catching
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. chest — a box
  14. net — in sport
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bass — low music
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. branch — a division
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bass — the fish
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. leaves — of a tree
  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