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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 120 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: present · chest · spring · stick · pass · cold · branch · snap

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. chest — of your body
  4. snap — to click
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. branch — a division
  9. cold — an illness
  10. spring — of water
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. spring — a coil
  15. present — the time now
  16. present — a gift
  17. chest — of your body
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. chest — a box
  20. present — there
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. spring — the season

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