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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 hit the back of the ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. court — for sport
  3. cell — a phone
  4. spring — a coil
  5. last — finally
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. court — of law
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. kick — in football
  12. spring — of water
  13. court — of a king
  14. spring — the season
  15. net — for catching
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. net — after costs
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. last — to go on
  21. last — final
  22. prune — to trim
  23. cell — in biology
  24. prune — to trim

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