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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: ball · branch · cold · stand · pit · shower · file · press

  1. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. stand — to bear
  3. cold — an illness
  4. shower — to wash
  5. branch — a division
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. ball — a dance
  8. pit — in a race
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. ball — a great time
  12. file — a line of people
  13. shower — rain
  14. pit — a hole
  15. press — to push
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. press — a publisher
  18. cold — not warm
  19. file — a document
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. file — a tool
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. press — newspapers

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