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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: chair · spring · kid · field · bass · branch · tube · cold

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. tube — the underground
  3. bass — the fish
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cold — not warm
  6. branch — a division
  7. spring — of water
  8. bass — low music
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. field — farmland
  11. field — for sport
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. spring — the season
  14. kid — to tease
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. tube — a container
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. chair — a leader
  19. spring — a coil
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. kid — child
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. cold — an illness

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