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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: kid · chair · mark · branch · mouse · prune · cold · content

  1. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. prune — to trim
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. kid — child
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. content — happy
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. chair — a leader
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. content — the amount
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. mark — a trace
  20. mark — a grade
  21. kid — to tease
  22. prune — to trim
  23. branch — a division
  24. chair — a professorship

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