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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: net · bat · court · branch · clip · cue · bulb · arm

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. court — for sport
  5. clip — a video
  6. cue — a signal
  7. clip — for paper
  8. court — of a king
  9. cue — for pool
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. net — in sport
  14. bulb — for light
  15. court — of law
  16. branch — a division
  17. cue — a hint
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. bat — the animal
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. net — for catching
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. bulb — for light
  24. clip — to cut

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