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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: snap · game · patient · branch · pitcher · squash · row · march

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. squash — the sport
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. branch — a division
  11. row — a line
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. squash — to crush
  14. game — wild animals
  15. row — to paddle
  16. march — the month
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. game — a match
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. march — music
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. march — the month

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