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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: branch · fork · chair · coach · march · wake · board · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. march — the month
  3. fork — in a road
  4. board — a committee
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. chair — a leader
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. march — the month
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. cold — not warm
  13. board — to get on
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. wake — a trail
  18. march — music
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. branch — a division
  24. board — a flat piece

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