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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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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  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. cell — in biology
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. sharp — clever
  4. court — of a king
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cell — a phone
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of law
  14. lie — to recline
  15. cold — an illness
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. trunk — of a tree
  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