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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. rest — what's left
  3. rest — a break
  4. rest — what's left
  5. branch — a division
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. land — to come down
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. court — of a king
  10. bass — low music
  11. court — for sport
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. bass — the fish
  14. scale — in music
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. row — to paddle
  19. land — a country
  20. row — a line
  21. wound — an injury
  22. court — of law
  23. scale — size or range
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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