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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. court — for sport
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. stock — goods
  7. hand — help
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. row — to paddle
  11. wound — an injury
  12. file — a tool
  13. row — a line
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. deal — to handle
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a line of people
  21. wound — an injury
  22. court — of law
  23. stock — shares
  24. hand — in cards

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