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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: bat · tube · squash · wake · leaves · branch · field · chest

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. squash — to crush
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. tube — a container
  8. field — farmland
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — a box
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. bat — the animal
  15. tube — the underground
  16. wake — a trail
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. branch — a division
  20. field — for sport
  21. field — a subject
  22. squash — the sport
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. chest — of your body

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