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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. court — for sport
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. court — of law
  6. present — a gift
  7. cold — an illness
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. perch — the fish
  12. present — there
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. land — ground
  15. cold — not warm
  16. branch — a division
  17. land — to come down
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. present — the time now
  20. land — a country
  21. ball — a great time
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. ball — a dance
  24. cabinet — ministers

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