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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. court — of law
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. shower — rain
  6. court — of a king
  7. pop — to visit
  8. pop — soda
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. spring — of water
  11. land — ground
  12. land — to come down
  13. ground — crushed
  14. court — for sport
  15. land — a country
  16. spring — a coil
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. shower — to wash
  19. ground — a position
  20. pop — music
  21. spring — the season
  22. ground — the earth
  23. kick — in football
  24. straw — a straw man

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