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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 120 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: season · mark · spring · branch · cold · hand · stock · squash

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. mark — a grade
  3. spring — a coil
  4. branch — a division
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — of water
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. mark — a trace
  9. squash — to crush
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. hand — in cards
  13. season — of the year
  14. squash — the sport
  15. hand — help
  16. stock — shares
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. cold — not warm
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. season — in sport
  22. stock — goods
  23. cold — an illness
  24. branch — of a tree

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