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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: cold · squash · spring · hand · saw · pitch · branch · fork

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. hand — in cards
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. hand — help
  6. saw — the tool
  7. pitch — completely
  8. branch — a division
  9. squash — the sport
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. fork — in a road
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. saw — the tool
  20. squash — to crush
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. spring — of water
  23. spring — a coil
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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