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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 116 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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. court — of a king
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. content — the amount
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. pop — to visit
  8. pop — soda
  9. court — for sport
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. shower — rain
  12. shower — to wash
  13. kick — in football
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. content — happy
  18. court — of law
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. pop — music
  21. season — in sport
  22. season — of the year
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. pitch — completely

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