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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. branch — a division
  4. wound — an injury
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. wound — an injury
  7. court — of law
  8. last — to go on
  9. scale — size or range
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. last — finally
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. spring — a coil
  18. scale — in music
  19. chair — a leader
  20. court — of a king
  21. last — final
  22. spring — the season
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. court — for sport

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