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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.

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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: club · cold · branch · leaves · prune · game · track · wound

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. track — a song
  4. track — to keep track
  5. wound — an injury
  6. club — for golf
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. club — a group
  9. track — a path
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cold — an illness
  14. prune — to trim
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wound — an injury
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. game — a match
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. branch — a division
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. club — for dancing

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