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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: march · stick · stock · bowl · spring · cold · straw · branch

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. stock — goods
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. march — music
  6. march — the month
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — of water
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. cold — not warm
  14. march — the month
  15. stick — to attach or keep to
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. branch — a division
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. stock — shares
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. spring — the season

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