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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: bark · branch · snap · court · row · bound · plane · spring

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. spring — of water
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. court — for sport
  5. bark — to shout
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. spring — the season
  10. plane — a tool
  11. snap — to click
  12. bound — obliged
  13. court — of a king
  14. spring — a coil
  15. bound — tied together
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. row — a line
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. branch — a division
  20. row — to paddle
  21. bound — certain
  22. court — of law
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. branch — of a tree

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