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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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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 · mine · hand · drill · branch · court · band · safe

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. mine — for digging
  3. court — of law
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. hand — in cards
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. band — a music group
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. hand — help
  12. drill — a practice
  13. shower — rain
  14. court — for sport
  15. shower — to wash
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. band — a ring
  21. court — of a king
  22. branch — a division
  23. safe — a strongbox
  24. drill — army training

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