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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: squash · court · jam · ground · wake · branch · chest · bat

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. ground — the earth
  4. squash — the sport
  5. chest — of your body
  6. branch — a division
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. court — of law
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. chest — of your body
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. chest — a box
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. ground — crushed
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. bat — the animal
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. court — of a king
  22. wake — a trail
  23. court — for sport
  24. ground — a position

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