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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: row · fork · pitch · fall · spring · cold · branch · track

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. track — a song
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. track — a path
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. track — to keep track
  12. fall — to drop
  13. row — to paddle
  14. fork — in a road
  15. spring — a coil
  16. pitch — completely
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. spring — the season
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. spring — of water
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. fall — the season
  23. fall — to drop
  24. branch — a division

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