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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: wound · net · march · kick · mine · court · pound · branch

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. wound — an injury
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. march — the month
  7. court — of law
  8. branch — a division
  9. kick — in football
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. mine — for digging
  12. march — music
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. march — the month
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. wound — an injury
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. court — for sport
  21. net — in sport
  22. net — for catching
  23. court — of a king
  24. pound — a weight

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