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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. court — of a king
  3. bat — the animal
  4. court — of law
  5. spring — the season
  6. current — happening now
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. cold — not warm
  9. court — for sport
  10. capital — money
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. spring — of water
  13. last — final
  14. last — finally
  15. current — electric
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. current — of water
  20. cold — an illness
  21. last — to go on
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. spring — a coil
  24. capital — a city

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