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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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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: calf · bore · branch · cold · field · mark · shower · hand

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. field — for sport
  4. mark — a grade
  5. hand — help
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. shower — rain
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. shower — to wash
  11. bore — to tire
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — a subject
  14. hand — in cards
  15. bore — to drill
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. cold — not warm
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. branch — a division
  22. cold — an illness
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. branch — of a bank

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