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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: toast · branch · shower · cold · row · roll · capital · perch

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. cold — an illness
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. roll — a list
  7. shower — to wash
  8. branch — a division
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. toast — bread
  11. capital — a city
  12. row — a line
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. roll — a cake
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. perch — the fish
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. shower — rain
  22. cold — not warm
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. row — to paddle

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