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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: season · branch · sharp · row · perch · key · bat · cold

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  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. row — a line
  2. key — the most important part
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. sharp — clever
  5. key — in music
  6. cold — an illness
  7. season — in sport
  8. perch — the fish
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bat — the animal
  14. row — to paddle
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. season — of the year
  19. branch — a division
  20. cold — not warm
  21. key — for a lock
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. perch — for a bird
  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