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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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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: band · branch · trunk · cold · hand · net · press · content

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. net — after costs
  3. hand — help
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. press — newspapers
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. branch — a division
  9. hand — in cards
  10. press — a publisher
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. press — to push
  16. band — a music group
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. net — for catching
  20. cold — not warm
  21. content — happy
  22. band — a ring
  23. content — the amount
  24. net — in sport

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