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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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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: stick · squash · arm · face · bat · spring · cell · branch

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. face — to confront
  4. squash — to crush
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. spring — of water
  9. bat — the animal
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. spring — a coil
  13. branch — a division
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. cell — in biology
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. face — part of the head
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. face — to point toward
  21. squash — the sport
  22. spring — the season
  23. cell — a phone
  24. arm — part of the body

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