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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 120 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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. pop — music
  4. court — of a king
  5. drill — army training
  6. court — of law
  7. cell — in biology
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. drill — the tool
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cap — a hat
  14. pop — soda
  15. cell — a phone
  16. field — a subject
  17. field — for sport
  18. chest — of your body
  19. pop — to visit
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cap — a lid
  22. drill — a practice
  23. branch — a division
  24. field — farmland

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