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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pop — soda
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. pop — music
  5. court — for sport
  6. game — a match
  7. game — wild animals
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. pit — in a race
  12. court — of a king
  13. scale — size or range
  14. court — of law
  15. shower — rain
  16. cell — a phone
  17. pop — to visit
  18. pit — a hole
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. scale — in music
  24. cell — in biology

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