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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: cold · fall · net · field · wake · branch · rock · chest

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. fall — to drop
  3. branch — a division
  4. net — in sport
  5. chest — a box
  6. fall — to drop
  7. field — farmland
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. net — for catching
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. field — a subject
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. fall — the season
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wake — a trail
  18. cold — not warm
  19. field — for sport
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. rock — music
  22. rock — a stone
  23. cold — an illness
  24. net — after costs

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