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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: chip · land · bay · cold · spell · branch · bark · march

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. chip — to eat
  3. spell — letters
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. land — to come down
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. chip — for betting
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. land — a country
  17. march — the month
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. bark — to shout
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. land — ground
  23. spell — a short time
  24. branch — a division

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