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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 116 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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. game — wild animals
  4. deal — to handle
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. drill — a practice
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. game — a match
  11. drill — the tool
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. cold — an illness
  14. drill — army training
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. court — for sport
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. content — the amount
  19. cold — not warm
  20. court — of law
  21. content — happy
  22. pit — a hole
  23. pit — in a race
  24. content — videos and posts

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