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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 120 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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. bear — the animal
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. court — for sport
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. content — the amount
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spring — the season
  12. cue — for pool
  13. content — happy
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. spring — a coil
  16. pit — a hole
  17. court — of law
  18. cue — a signal
  19. bear — the animal
  20. pit — in a race
  21. spring — of water
  22. cue — a hint
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. sharp — clever

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