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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 · stick · band · dip · pitcher · bank · branch · hand

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. bank — for money
  5. hand — help
  6. bank — for money
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. branch — a division
  11. dip — to sink
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. bank — of a river
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. cold — an illness
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. hand — in cards
  24. pitcher — a jug

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