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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: racket · shower · branch · court · content · cell · charge · date

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. court — of a king
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. branch — a division
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. charge — a price
  13. charge — in control
  14. charge — electricity
  15. cell — a phone
  16. date — the fruit
  17. court — for sport
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. court — of law
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. cell — in biology
  22. shower — rain
  23. content — the amount
  24. shower — to wash

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