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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: board · cold · content · perch · bat · squash · branch · arm

  1. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. board — to get on
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. squash — the sport
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. board — a committee
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. cold — an illness
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. perch — the fish
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. content — happy
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. cold — not warm
  18. branch — a division
  19. squash — to crush
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bat — the animal
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. content — the amount
  24. arm — part of the body

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