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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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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: court · swing · lie · content · hand · branch · tear · bore

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. hand — help
  3. court — for sport
  4. lie — to recline
  5. swing — to play on
  6. tear — from crying
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. swing — in golf
  13. court — of law
  14. tear — to rip
  15. bore — to drill
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. bore — to tire
  19. swing — music
  20. court — of a king
  21. hand — in cards
  22. branch — a division
  23. tear — from crying
  24. content — videos and posts

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