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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. cold — an illness
  3. court — for sport
  4. last — final
  5. scale — size or range
  6. court — of a king
  7. last — to go on
  8. ground — the earth
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. plane — a tool
  11. court — of law
  12. rush — hurry
  13. firm — steady
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. firm — decided
  16. ground — a position
  17. scale — in music
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. last — finally
  20. ground — crushed
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. rush — a thrill

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