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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: cold · net · row · branch · shower · jam · clip · roll

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cold — not warm
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. net — for catching
  5. shower — to wash
  6. branch — a division
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. shower — rain
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. clip — for paper
  11. clip — a video
  12. cold — an illness
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. roll — a list
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. clip — to cut
  18. row — a line
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. roll — a cake
  21. row — to paddle
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. net — in sport
  24. net — after costs

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