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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · hide · march · club · present · tube · branch · hand

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. club — for dancing
  3. cold — not warm
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. hand — in cards
  6. hand — help
  7. march — the month
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. club — a group
  10. tube — the underground
  11. present — the time now
  12. march — the month
  13. tube — a container
  14. branch — a division
  15. cold — an illness
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. march — music
  21. present — there
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. present — a gift
  24. tube — in a tire

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