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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. game — a match
  5. root — of a word
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. cap — of ice
  8. game — wild animals
  9. hand — help
  10. hand — in cards
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. cap — a lid
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. root — of a plant
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. branch — a division
  19. root — the cause
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. cap — a hat
  22. stand — to bear
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. bat — for baseball

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