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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. stem — to come from
  3. court — of law
  4. squash — to crush
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. land — to come down
  7. wind — moving air
  8. land — a country
  9. firm — decided
  10. date — the fruit
  11. firm — a company
  12. firm — steady
  13. last — final
  14. court — of a king
  15. squash — the sport
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. last — to go on
  19. last — finally
  20. land — ground
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. wind — moving air

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