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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. chest — of your body
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. court — of a king
  5. cell — a phone
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. mine — for digging
  8. band — a ring
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. cell — in biology
  13. degree — temperature
  14. band — a music group
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. degree — from a university
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. chest — a box
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. degree — an amount
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. court — of law
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cell — in a prison

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