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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. mine — for digging
  4. march — music
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. court — for sport
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. bat — the animal
  10. rash — a series
  11. march — the month
  12. rash — hasty
  13. march — the month
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. squash — the sport
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. squash — to crush
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. snap — to click
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. court — of a king
  22. sharp — clever
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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