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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: land · firm · roll · cold · branch · lean · chip · date

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. land — ground
  4. firm — a company
  5. chip — for betting
  6. cold — not warm
  7. firm — decided
  8. date — the fruit
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. chip — to eat
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. land — a country
  13. roll — a list
  14. land — to come down
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. cold — an illness
  17. branch — a division
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. roll — a cake
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. firm — steady
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. lean — thin
  24. cold — the Cold War

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