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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 116 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: wound · band · patient · branch · rule · cold · pass · straw

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. branch — a division
  5. pass — a permit
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. rule — a law
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. band — a music group
  10. rule — government
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. band — a ring
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. cold — not warm
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. wound — an injury
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. wound — an injury
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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