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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: branch · club · content · straw · bound · row · fall · cold

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. content — happy
  3. club — for dancing
  4. bound — tied together
  5. fall — to drop
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. bound — certain
  8. fall — to drop
  9. cold — not warm
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — to paddle
  14. fall — the season
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. branch — a division
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. club — for golf
  20. bound — obliged
  21. row — a line
  22. cold — an illness
  23. content — the amount
  24. straw — a straw man

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