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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: chest · bulb · net · lie · clip · court · branch · swing

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. clip — for paper
  3. bulb — for light
  4. chest — of your body
  5. court — of law
  6. net — in sport
  7. court — of a king
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — a video
  10. bulb — for light
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. swing — in golf
  13. branch — a division
  14. court — for sport
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — a box
  18. swing — music
  19. net — after costs
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. swing — to play on
  22. net — for catching
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. lie — to recline

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