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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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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: branch · hand · bat · patient · mark · straw · ball · game

  1. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. mark — a trace
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. hand — help
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. game — a match
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. ball — a great time
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. branch — a division
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. hand — in cards
  18. game — wild animals
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. ball — a dance
  24. bat — the animal

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