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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: cold · file · court · tear · fall · branch · wind · club

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. court — of a king
  3. branch — a division
  4. club — a group
  5. file — a tool
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — to drop
  8. wind — moving air
  9. court — of law
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. court — for sport
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. file — a line of people
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. cold — not warm
  19. fall — the season
  20. club — for golf
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. club — for dancing
  23. wind — moving air
  24. file — a document

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