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

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. wind — moving air
  3. present — the time now
  4. shower — rain
  5. wind — moving air
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. branch — a division
  8. court — of a king
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bass — the fish
  11. rash — a series
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. game — wild animals
  15. game — a match
  16. present — there
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. bass — low music
  19. shower — to wash
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. rash — hasty
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. court — for sport
  24. court — of law

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