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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 116 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: lie · plane · cold · shower · band · stock · branch · saw

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. shower — rain
  3. lie — to recline
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. plane — a tool
  6. band — a music group
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. saw — the tool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. band — a ring
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cold — not warm
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. saw — the tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. branch — a division
  22. stock — goods
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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