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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 116 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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. chair — a leader
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pop — soda
  6. pop — music
  7. squash — the sport
  8. pitch — completely
  9. shower — to wash
  10. spring — of water
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. spring — the season
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. shower — rain
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. court — of law
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. spring — a coil
  20. wake — a trail
  21. squash — to crush
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. court — of a king
  24. court — for sport

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