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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: court · trunk · content · tear · fork · bark · game · leaves

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. court — of a king
  5. bark — to shout
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. content — the amount
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. game — wild animals
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. fork — in a road
  17. tear — to rip
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. court — of law
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. game — a match
  24. content — happy

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