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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: court · root · branch · bat · stock · chest · wind · bear

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. root — of a plant
  3. root — of a word
  4. court — of a king
  5. chest — of your body
  6. stock — shares
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. court — of law
  12. wind — moving air
  13. root — the cause
  14. branch — a division
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. court — for sport
  17. stock — goods
  18. chest — a box
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. bear — the animal
  22. chest — of your body
  23. bear — the animal
  24. bat — the animal

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