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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 120 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: mark · court · root · bat · tear · cold · rule · branch

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. court — of law
  3. mark — a trace
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bat — the animal
  6. cold — an illness
  7. tear — from crying
  8. rule — a law
  9. root — the cause
  10. root — of a plant
  11. court — of a king
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. tear — to rip
  14. mark — a grade
  15. root — of a word
  16. rule — government
  17. court — for sport
  18. tear — from crying
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. cold — not warm
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — a division
  24. cold — the Cold War

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