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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. rash — hasty
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. race — the arms race
  5. race — humankind
  6. court — for sport
  7. bulb — for light
  8. bulb — for light
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. court — of a king
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. face — to point toward
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. race — a contest
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rash — a series
  19. face — part of the head
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. face — to confront
  24. court — of law

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