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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. court — for sport
  3. bass — the fish
  4. cold — an illness
  5. saw — the tool
  6. court — of a king
  7. race — humankind
  8. race — a contest
  9. bass — low music
  10. cold — not warm
  11. face — to confront
  12. fall — to drop
  13. capital — money
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. face — part of the head
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. face — to point toward
  19. fall — to drop
  20. saw — the tool
  21. race — the arms race
  22. fall — the season
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. capital — a city

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