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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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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: bear · game · rush · shower · branch · lean · court · content

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. bear — the animal
  3. court — of a king
  4. shower — to wash
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. lean — thin
  8. game — a match
  9. court — for sport
  10. content — happy
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. content — the amount
  13. bear — the animal
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. branch — a division
  16. court — of law
  17. game — wild animals
  18. lean — to bend
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. shower — rain
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. game — a kind of play

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