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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  20. When will it ________________ you to start?
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. net — for catching
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. suit — in cards
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. race — the arms race
  8. cold — an illness
  9. court — of law
  10. cold — not warm
  11. net — in sport
  12. race — humankind
  13. rest — what's left
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. rest — a break
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. rest — what's left
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. suit — clothes
  20. suit — to fit
  21. net — after costs
  22. mine — for digging
  23. race — a contest
  24. court — of a king

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