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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 always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. mine — for digging
  3. court — of law
  4. court — of a king
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. wind — moving air
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. court — for sport
  9. cap — of ice
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. capital — a city
  12. foot — a measure
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. wind — moving air
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. capital — money
  19. date — the fruit
  20. cap — a lid
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. cap — a hat
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. date — on the calendar

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