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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: squash · mine · march · bat · dip · spring · branch · kid

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. squash — the sport
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. march — music
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. mine — for digging
  11. squash — to crush
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. spring — a coil
  14. march — the month
  15. dip — to sink
  16. bat — the animal
  17. spring — of water
  18. kid — to tease
  19. march — the month
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. spring — the season
  24. kid — child

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