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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: branch · cold · pitch · net · march · last · chair · root

  1. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a plant
  2. pitch — completely
  3. cold — an illness
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. cold — not warm
  7. net — for catching
  8. chair — a leader
  9. root — the cause
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. branch — a division
  12. root — of a word
  13. net — after costs
  14. net — in sport
  15. march — music
  16. last — final
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. last — to go on
  19. last — finally
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. march — the month
  23. pitch — a sports field
  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