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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. rash — a series
  4. tube — a container
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. kick — in football
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. tube — the underground
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. ball — a great time
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. rule — government
  15. rule — a law
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. ball — a dance
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rash — hasty
  22. court — of a king
  23. court — of law
  24. bat — the animal

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