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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: fan · calf · hand · cold · last · branch · jam · sharp

  1. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. hand — in cards
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. branch — a division
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. last — finally
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. last — final
  12. last — to go on
  13. cold — an illness
  14. hand — help
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. sharp — clever
  24. cold — not warm

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