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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: straw · content · row · squash · ground · branch · fork · band

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. squash — the sport
  3. ground — a position
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. band — a ring
  7. row — a line
  8. content — happy
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. fork — in a road
  13. content — the amount
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. row — to paddle
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. squash — to crush
  18. ground — crushed
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. ground — the earth
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. branch — a division

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