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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: court · branch · perch · temple · bowl · cold · pop · land

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. land — to come down
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. pop — music
  7. court — for sport
  8. land — a country
  9. court — of law
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pop — soda
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. land — ground
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. cold — an illness
  18. perch — the fish
  19. pop — to visit
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. branch — a division
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. cold — the Cold War

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