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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: bat · branch · hand · dip · chest · pop · march · bowl

  1. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. pop — to visit
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. chest — of your body
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. hand — in cards
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. pop — soda
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. hand — help
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. branch — a division
  14. chest — of your body
  15. march — the month
  16. pop — music
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. march — music
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. chest — a box
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. dip — to sink
  24. march — the month

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