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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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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: chest · temple · lash · hide · branch · field · cold · dip

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. field — a subject
  7. chest — a box
  8. field — for sport
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. chest — of your body
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. field — farmland
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. chest — of your body
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. branch — a division
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. dip — to sink
  24. lash — an eyelash

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