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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: coach · branch · track · lean · pit · bat · cold · bowl

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. track — a song
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. track — to keep track
  7. pit — a hole
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. pit — in a race
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. track — a path
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cold — not warm
  17. lean — thin
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. bat — the animal
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. branch — a division
  24. lean — to bend

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