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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 116 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: present · bass · pop · bat · branch · last · tear · march

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. pop — to visit
  4. last — final
  5. present — a gift
  6. march — the month
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. branch — a division
  9. bat — the animal
  10. march — the month
  11. present — there
  12. pop — soda
  13. last — to go on
  14. tear — to rip
  15. bass — the fish
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. pop — music
  18. tear — from crying
  19. last — finally
  20. bass — low music
  21. march — music
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. present — the time now

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