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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. bass — the fish
  3. land — to come down
  4. shower — rain
  5. court — of a king
  6. shower — to wash
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bass — low music
  9. deal — to handle
  10. content — happy
  11. pound — a weight
  12. land — a country
  13. court — of law
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. content — the amount
  22. game — wild animals
  23. land — ground
  24. game — a match

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