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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 116 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: bore · spring · cold · rush · court · bat · racket · branch

  1. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. court — of a king
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. spring — of water
  6. bore — to drill
  7. court — of law
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rush — hurry
  10. spring — a coil
  11. court — for sport
  12. cold — not warm
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. bore — to tire
  18. branch — a division
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. bat — the animal
  24. spring — the season

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