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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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. scale — in music
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. mine — for digging
  6. net — for catching
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. court — of law
  9. net — after costs
  10. roll — a cake
  11. net — in sport
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. spell — magic
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. spell — a short time
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. court — of a king
  20. scale — size or range
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. spell — letters
  24. roll — a list

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