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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: perch · game · clip · coach · branch · bowl · bat · court

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. court — of a king
  3. court — for sport
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. court — of law
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. game — wild animals
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. clip — a video
  12. game — a match
  13. perch — the fish
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — for paper
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. bat — the animal
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

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