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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: spell · court · row · stock · fan · hand · branch · rest

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. court — for sport
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. branch — a division
  6. spell — letters
  7. court — of a king
  8. stock — goods
  9. rest — what's left
  10. stock — shares
  11. hand — help
  12. row — a line
  13. row — to paddle
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. spell — a short time
  17. spell — magic
  18. rest — what's left
  19. hand — in cards
  20. rest — a break
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. court — of law
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. row — a quarrel

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