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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: bass · cold · stock · march · band · branch · wound · shower

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. march — the month
  3. shower — rain
  4. stock — shares
  5. bass — low music
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. branch — a division
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. march — music
  15. stock — goods
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wound — an injury
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. band — a ring
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bass — the fish
  23. wound — an injury
  24. march — the month

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