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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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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: drill · pop · prune · cold · court · branch · mouse · bound

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  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. bound — certain
  2. drill — army training
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. prune — to trim
  6. court — for sport
  7. bound — tied together
  8. court — of a king
  9. drill — the tool
  10. pop — to visit
  11. drill — a practice
  12. branch — a division
  13. court — of law
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bound — obliged
  17. cold — an illness
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pop — music
  21. pop — soda
  22. prune — to trim
  23. branch — of a bank
  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