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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. hand — in cards
  3. band — a ring
  4. snap — to click
  5. court — for sport
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. file — a document
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. pit — in a race
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. wax — to grow
  15. file — a line of people
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. pit — a hole
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. court — of law
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — help
  22. fork — in a road
  23. band — a music group
  24. file — a tool

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