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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. track — a path
  3. court — for sport
  4. band — a ring
  5. cold — an illness
  6. track — a song
  7. season — in sport
  8. last — to go on
  9. last — finally
  10. last — final
  11. band — a music group
  12. season — of the year
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. court — of law
  15. track — to keep track
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War

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