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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: tear · bat · cabinet · cold · wound · court · branch · craft

  1. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — to rip
  4. cold — an illness
  5. craft — a skill
  6. court — of a king
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of law
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bat — the animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. branch — a division
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. craft — boats
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. branch — of a tree

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