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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: trunk · bowl · branch · court · racket · cold · drill · shower

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. drill — the tool
  5. court — of a king
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. drill — a practice
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. cold — an illness
  12. court — of law
  13. shower — to wash
  14. shower — rain
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. branch — a division
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. court — for sport
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cold — not warm
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. drill — army training
  24. branch — of a tree

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