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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. cold — not warm
  3. root — of a word
  4. season — in sport
  5. root — the cause
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. rock — music
  9. court — of law
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cold — an illness
  14. root — of a plant
  15. game — wild animals
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. rock — a stone
  19. game — a match
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. kick — in football
  22. season — of the year
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. court — of a king

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