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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 120 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: clip · cold · wave · charge · branch · spring · chair · chest

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. branch — a division
  3. cold — an illness
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. charge — in control
  6. spring — the season
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. cold — not warm
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. clip — for paper
  11. spring — of water
  12. charge — electricity
  13. spring — a coil
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. chest — of your body
  16. clip — a video
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. chair — a leader
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. chest — of your body
  24. charge — a price

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