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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: jam · wake · branch · cap · bound · cold · chest · spring

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cap — a hat
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. chest — a box
  5. bound — certain
  6. spring — a coil
  7. cap — of ice
  8. bound — tied together
  9. cap — a lid
  10. bound — obliged
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wake — a trail
  13. spring — the season
  14. spring — of water
  15. cold — an illness
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. chest — of your body
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. branch — a division
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. jam — in traffic

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