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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: branch · trunk · cold · arm · shower · board · season · spell

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. shower — to wash
  3. spell — letters
  4. board — to get on
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. spell — a short time
  7. spell — magic
  8. branch — a division
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cold — not warm
  15. board — a committee
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. shower — rain
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. season — of the year
  24. season — in sport

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