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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. court — for sport
  4. fine — all right
  5. rush — hurry
  6. net — after costs
  7. fine — high quality
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. hand — help
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. net — for catching
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. court — of a king
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a line of people
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. net — in sport
  19. file — a tool
  20. fork — in a road
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. court — of law
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. branch — a division

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