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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. court — of a king
  4. bound — certain
  5. pop — soda
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pop — to visit
  9. date — the fruit
  10. bound — obliged
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pop — music
  18. lie — to recline
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bound — tied together
  23. court — of law
  24. wax — to grow

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