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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: wound · bat · mate · leaves · chest · tear · branch · coach

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. chest — of your body
  3. mate — to breed
  4. tear — from crying
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. wound — an injury
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. mate — a friend
  13. chest — of your body
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. tear — from crying
  17. mate — a partner
  18. branch — a division
  19. wound — an injury
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. chest — a box
  22. tear — to rip
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. bat — in an idiom

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