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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. cue — a hint
  3. court — of law
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spring — the season
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. scale — in music
  11. scale — size or range
  12. court — of a king
  13. cue — for pool
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. court — for sport
  16. spring — a coil
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. lean — to bend
  20. lean — thin
  21. cue — a signal
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. spring — of water
  24. cold — the Cold War

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