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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: face · branch · spell · bat · rest · court · game · prune

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of a king
  3. spell — letters
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. branch — a division
  6. rest — a break
  7. game — a match
  8. game — wild animals
  9. bat — the animal
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. spell — magic
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. face — to point toward
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. court — of law
  17. prune — to trim
  18. face — part of the head
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. face — to confront
  21. rest — what's left
  22. rest — what's left
  23. spell — a short time
  24. bat — for baseball

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