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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. wind — moving air
  4. band — a ring
  5. mine — for digging
  6. branch — a division
  7. band — a music group
  8. court — of law
  9. wind — moving air
  10. stock — shares
  11. court — of a king
  12. court — for sport
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. rash — hasty
  16. stock — goods
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. rash — a series
  20. bark — to shout
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. branch — of a bank

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