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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. mate — to breed
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. bass — low music
  7. mate — a partner
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. cell — in biology
  10. land — a country
  11. hand — help
  12. cell — a phone
  13. hand — in cards
  14. bass — the fish
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. stock — goods
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. root — of a plant
  19. court — of law
  20. root — of a word
  21. root — the cause
  22. stock — shares
  23. court — of a king
  24. mate — a friend

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