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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: face · kid · wake · cold · patient · perch · branch · cap

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cap — a lid
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — to tease
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. perch — the fish
  8. wake — a trail
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. face — to point toward
  12. cap — of ice
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. kid — child
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. face — part of the head
  19. face — to confront
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. branch — a division
  24. perch — for a bird

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