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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: branch · kid · swing · row · prune · cell · march · race

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. kid — to tease
  4. row — a line
  5. row — to paddle
  6. prune — to trim
  7. race — humankind
  8. swing — music
  9. swing — in golf
  10. race — a contest
  11. march — the month
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. kid — child
  14. march — music
  15. cell — a phone
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — a division
  18. swing — to play on
  19. cell — in biology
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. prune — to trim
  23. march — the month
  24. race — the arms race

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