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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: shower · court · wind · branch · hand · row · fall · craft

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. hand — help
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. branch — a division
  6. hand — in cards
  7. row — to paddle
  8. fall — to drop
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. court — of law
  12. craft — boats
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. row — a line
  15. craft — a skill
  16. wind — moving air
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. shower — to wash
  19. fall — to drop
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. fall — the season
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — to turn a key

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