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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. spring — of water
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. spring — a coil
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. shower — rain
  9. court — of a king
  10. march — the month
  11. spring — the season
  12. current — of water
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. branch — a division
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. shower — to wash
  18. current — happening now
  19. saw — the tool
  20. court — of law
  21. saw — the tool
  22. march — music
  23. march — the month
  24. current — electric

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