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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 · ball · shower · capital · stock · clip · bark

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. branch — a division
  3. shower — rain
  4. clip — to cut
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. ball — a dance
  10. clip — for paper
  11. shower — to wash
  12. clip — a video
  13. court — of a king
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. court — of law
  16. stock — goods
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. bark — to shout
  20. capital — a city
  21. court — for sport
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. stock — shares
  24. ball — a great time

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