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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: hand · press · chip · branch · cold · cell · present · trunk

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. cold — not warm
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. present — there
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. cell — a phone
  7. branch — a division
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. present — the time now
  12. press — to push
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. hand — in cards
  15. present — a gift
  16. chip — for betting
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. cold — an illness
  20. chip — to eat
  21. press — newspapers
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. cell — in biology
  24. press — a publisher

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