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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: fine · perch · prune · court · last · wind · wound · branch

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. last — to go on
  6. wound — an injury
  7. fine — all right
  8. last — final
  9. court — of law
  10. court — for sport
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. court — of a king
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. wound — an injury
  17. prune — to trim
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. last — finally
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. perch — the fish
  22. prune — to trim
  23. fine — high quality
  24. wind — moving air

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