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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: nail · straw · cold · row · club · branch · chest · squash

  1. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. club — for golf
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. cold — an illness
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. chest — of your body
  8. row — to paddle
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. row — a line
  11. club — for dancing
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. squash — the sport
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. club — a group
  17. chest — a box
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. squash — to crush
  20. branch — a division
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — not warm

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