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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. last — to go on
  3. mate — a friend
  4. court — for sport
  5. content — the amount
  6. ball — a great time
  7. content — happy
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. court — of a king
  10. cell — a phone
  11. board — a committee
  12. last — finally
  13. mate — to breed
  14. last — final
  15. court — of law
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. cell — in biology
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. board — to get on
  21. ball — a dance
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. straw — dry grass

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