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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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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: branch · cold · rule · court · race · net · fine · rest

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. race — a contest
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. net — after costs
  5. fine — high quality
  6. branch — a division
  7. court — of law
  8. race — the arms race
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rule — a law
  12. cold — an illness
  13. rule — government
  14. net — in sport
  15. net — for catching
  16. rest — a break
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of a king
  19. rest — what's left
  20. rest — what's left
  21. fine — all right
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. race — humankind
  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