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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. court — for sport
  4. court — of a king
  5. band — a music group
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. band — a ring
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. ball — a great time
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bat — the animal
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. court — of law
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. ball — a dance
  22. stem — to come from
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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