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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: rock · shower · foot · bat · cell · branch · press · board

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. branch — a division
  4. press — a publisher
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — rain
  8. cell — a phone
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. press — to push
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. cell — in biology
  18. press — newspapers
  19. board — a committee
  20. rock — a stone
  21. board — to get on
  22. foot — a measure
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. foot — part of the body

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