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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: chip · staff · fork · track · cold · branch · hand · game

  1. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. chip — to eat
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. track — to keep track
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. cold — not warm
  7. branch — a division
  8. hand — help
  9. staff — employees
  10. track — a path
  11. track — a song
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. game — wild animals
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fork — in a road
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. staff — a stick
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. staff — employees
  22. game — a match
  23. hand — in cards
  24. chip — for betting

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