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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: fall · branch · mate · cap · patient · march · cold · content

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. cap — of ice
  3. mate — to breed
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cap — a hat
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. content — happy
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. fall — the season
  13. march — the month
  14. fall — to drop
  15. march — the month
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. mate — a partner
  18. cap — a lid
  19. fall — to drop
  20. branch — a division
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. mate — a friend
  23. content — the amount
  24. branch — of a tree

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