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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: cold · temple · branch · band · present · row · chair · prune

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. row — to paddle
  3. cold — not warm
  4. band — a ring
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. prune — to trim
  9. chair — a leader
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. branch — a division
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. present — a gift
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. present — the time now
  20. present — there
  21. cold — an illness
  22. band — a music group
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. row — a line

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