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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: rash · file · court · shower · bat · branch · dip · suit

  1. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. suit — in cards
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. shower — rain
  6. court — of law
  7. file — a line of people
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. court — for sport
  10. file — a document
  11. court — of a king
  12. file — a tool
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. suit — clothes
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. bat — the animal
  19. shower — to wash
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. branch — a division
  22. rash — a series
  23. rash — hasty
  24. dip — to sink

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