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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of a king
  3. capital — money
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — to tease
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. lean — thin
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. branch — a division
  12. bark — to shout
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. capital — a city
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. court — of law
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. deal — to handle
  20. lean — to bend
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. bark — of a tree

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