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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. staff — employees
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. wound — an injury
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. snap — to click
  8. swing — in golf
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. wound — an injury
  11. staff — employees
  12. court — of a king
  13. staff — a stick
  14. branch — a division
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. swing — to play on
  17. court — of law
  18. swing — music

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