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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: bark · row · branch · content · lash · fork · rash · cold

  1. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rash — hasty
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — happy
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. bark — to shout
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. row — to paddle
  17. row — a line
  18. content — the amount
  19. rash — a series
  20. fork — in a road
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

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