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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: wound · cold · perch · cell · cue · key · band · branch

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cold — an illness
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. cue — a signal
  7. branch — a division
  8. band — a ring
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a music group
  11. cue — for pool
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cell — in biology
  14. wound — an injury
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. key — the most important part
  17. cue — a hint
  18. key — for a lock
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. cold — not warm
  21. key — in music
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. perch — the fish

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