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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: mark · file · court · spell · fan · shower · branch · cold

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. court — of law
  3. mark — a grade
  4. mark — a trace
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. spell — magic
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. court — of a king
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. file — a document
  13. shower — to wash
  14. cold — not warm
  15. court — for sport
  16. file — a tool
  17. shower — rain
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. file — a line of people
  22. branch — a division
  23. spell — a short time
  24. cold — an illness

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