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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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Word bank
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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 · scale · cold · track · coach · hand · last · bear

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. last — final
  3. track — a path
  4. last — to go on
  5. track — a song
  6. bear — the animal
  7. branch — a division
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. hand — in cards
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. scale — in music
  15. hand — help
  16. last — finally
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. cold — not warm
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. scale — size or range
  22. track — to keep track
  23. cold — an illness
  24. scale — for weighing

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