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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: wound · arm · cold · mouse · branch · rock · rest · row

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. row — a line
  3. wound — an injury
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. rock — a stone
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wound — an injury
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. branch — a division
  11. rest — what's left
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. rest — what's left
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. row — to paddle
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. rock — music
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. rest — a break
  23. cold — not warm
  24. mouse — the animal

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