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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: branch · cold · rest · lash · press · cell · wake · wound

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. branch — a division
  5. rest — what's left
  6. rest — what's left
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. press — to push
  11. press — a publisher
  12. wound — an injury
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. cold — an illness
  15. press — newspapers
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rest — a break
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. cell — a phone
  24. wake — a trail

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