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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: hand · kid · season · cue · branch · row · bat · dip

  1. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cue — a signal
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. hand — in cards
  11. season — of the year
  12. kid — child
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. season — in sport
  15. cue — for pool
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. row — a line
  18. cue — a hint
  19. branch — a division
  20. row — to paddle
  21. dip — to sink
  22. bat — the animal
  23. hand — help
  24. kid — to tease

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