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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: coach · hand · branch · firm · field · perch · cell · season

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. firm — a company
  3. perch — the fish
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. firm — decided
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — for sport
  10. hand — help
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. firm — steady
  15. hand — in cards
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. field — a subject
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. branch — a division
  20. season — of the year
  21. cell — in biology
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. season — 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