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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. key — the most important part
  3. cold — not warm
  4. net — for catching
  5. hand — in cards
  6. court — of a king
  7. hand — help
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. court — for sport
  15. court — of law
  16. net — after costs
  17. key — for a lock
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cold — an illness
  20. branch — a division
  21. net — in sport
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. key — in music
  24. straw — a straw man

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