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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: fan · cell · branch · present · fine · chest · date · kid

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. date — the fruit
  3. branch — a division
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. fine — all right
  8. kid — child
  9. chest — a box
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cell — a phone
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. present — there
  16. kid — to tease
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. cell — in biology
  19. present — the time now
  20. chest — of your body
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. present — a gift
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. branch — of a bank

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