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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 116 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. He is an ace ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. swing — to play on
  4. swing — in golf
  5. stem — to come from
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. swing — music
  8. court — of a king
  9. wound — an injury
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. game — a match
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. shower — to wash
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. wound — an injury
  19. court — for sport
  20. shower — rain
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. court — of law
  24. game — wild animals

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