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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 116 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: pop · cell · cold · branch · capital · perch · stock · fork

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. branch — a division
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. capital — money
  5. stock — shares
  6. pop — music
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. capital — a city
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. pop — soda
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. perch — the fish
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cold — an illness
  21. stock — goods
  22. pop — to visit
  23. fork — in a road
  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