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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: clip · spring · cell · wave · cold · ruler · branch · shower

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. spring — a coil
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cell — in biology
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cold — an illness
  15. branch — a division
  16. shower — rain
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. clip — a video
  21. spring — of water
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. spring — the season
  24. cold — not warm

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