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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: branch · cold · wake · club · wound · track · bound · stem

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. club — for golf
  3. club — for dancing
  4. cold — an illness
  5. track — a song
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. branch — a division
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. bound — certain
  10. club — a group
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. stem — to come from
  16. track — to keep track
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wake — a trail
  19. track — a path
  20. bound — obliged
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wound — an injury
  24. bound — tied together

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