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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. rush — hurry
  3. court — of a king
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. mine — for digging
  6. scale — in music
  7. march — the month
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. march — the month
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. court — for sport
  12. cold — not warm
  13. sharp — clever
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. march — music
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. court — of law
  22. scale — size or range
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. cold — an illness

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