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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  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. branch — a division
  2. court — for sport
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. bark — to shout
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. row — a line
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. wound — an injury
  10. saw — the tool
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. stock — goods
  14. court — of a king
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. court — of law
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. wound — an injury
  20. mine — for digging
  21. saw — the tool
  22. stock — shares
  23. row — to paddle
  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