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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. row — to paddle
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. tube — a container
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. court — for sport
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. cold — not warm
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. court — of law
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. row — a line
  17. cold — an illness
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. branch — a division
  23. tube — the underground
  24. row — a quarrel

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