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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: stem · shower · bank · content · court · face · perch · rule

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. court — of a king
  3. stem — to come from
  4. face — to point toward
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. content — the amount
  7. shower — to wash
  8. bank — for money
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. face — to confront
  12. bank — for money
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. court — for sport
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. face — part of the head
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. court — of law
  20. rule — government
  21. shower — rain
  22. rule — a law
  23. bank — of a river
  24. perch — the fish

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