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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. perch — the fish
  5. content — happy
  6. court — for sport
  7. game — a match
  8. court — of a king
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. content — the amount
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. bank — for money
  15. court — of law
  16. bank — for money
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. ball — a dance
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. cold — not warm
  21. game — wild animals
  22. bank — of a river
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. ball — a round shape

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