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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: bass · stem · game · cold · spell · stock · bat · branch

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. stem — to come from
  4. game — wild animals
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. spell — a short time
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. stock — goods
  9. spell — letters
  10. bat — the animal
  11. cold — not warm
  12. branch — a division
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. spell — magic
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cold — an illness
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. game — a match
  22. bass — the fish
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. stock — shares

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