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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: field · trunk · cold · branch · pitcher · lie · chest · rock

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — farmland
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. rock — a stone
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. branch — a division
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. chest — a box
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. rock — music
  21. field — a subject
  22. chest — of your body
  23. cold — not warm
  24. lie — to recline

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