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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. branch — a division
  3. bound — certain
  4. spring — a coil
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. court — of a king
  7. track — to keep track
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. stock — goods
  10. file — a document
  11. stock — shares
  12. track — a path
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. court — for sport
  17. bound — tied together
  18. file — a tool
  19. spring — of water
  20. file — a line of people
  21. spring — the season
  22. bound — obliged
  23. court — of law
  24. track — a song

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