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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. When will it ________________ you to start?
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. cold — an illness
  3. kid — to tease
  4. last — to go on
  5. suit — in cards
  6. cold — not warm
  7. kid — child
  8. suit — clothes
  9. cue — for pool
  10. cue — a hint
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. last — finally
  13. shower — rain
  14. suit — to fit
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. shower — to wash
  17. court — of law
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. cue — a signal
  20. last — final
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. court — of a king
  24. pitcher — a jug

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