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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: band · field · cold · mate · arm · board · branch · tear

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. branch — a division
  3. tear — from crying
  4. mate — a friend
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. board — to get on
  8. band — a ring
  9. mate — a partner
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. mate — to breed
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. band — a music group
  14. tear — to rip
  15. cold — not warm
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. field — a subject
  18. board — a committee
  19. cold — an illness
  20. tear — from crying
  21. field — for sport
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. field — farmland
  24. board — a flat piece

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