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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: court · file · jam · wax · game · bat · cold · branch

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. branch — a division
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bat — the animal
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a tool
  11. court — of a king
  12. cold — an illness
  13. court — of law
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. file — a line of people
  16. wax — to grow
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. game — a match
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. game — wild animals

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