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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: mate · face · arm · mine · trunk · wound · cold · branch

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. mine — for digging
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. face — to confront
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. face — to point toward
  12. face — part of the head
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. mate — to breed
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. mate — a friend
  19. branch — a division
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. mate — a partner
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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