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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: roll · file · bear · coach · shower · branch · cold · track

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. shower — rain
  3. bear — the animal
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. cold — an illness
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. bear — the animal
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. branch — a division
  12. track — a song
  13. cold — not warm
  14. roll — a cake
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. file — a line of people
  17. track — to keep track
  18. track — a path
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. shower — to wash
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. roll — a list
  24. cold — the Cold War

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