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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: wake · branch · wind · cap · field · lie · cold · pitch

  1. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — for sport
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. cap — of ice
  9. wake — a trail
  10. pitch — completely
  11. field — farmland
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. branch — a division
  16. field — a subject
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. cap — a lid
  19. cold — an illness
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. lie — an untruth

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