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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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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 · bark · stick · bat · wave · branch · prune · chip

  1. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. prune — to trim
  4. bark — to shout
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bat — the animal
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. chip — for betting
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. branch — a division
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. cold — an illness
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. chip — to eat

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