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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 120 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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. court — for sport
  3. chip — to eat
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bat — the animal
  7. cell — a phone
  8. prune — to trim
  9. present — the time now
  10. present — there
  11. scale — size or range
  12. scale — in music
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. track — a song
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. court — of law
  17. present — a gift
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. chip — for betting
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. track — a path
  23. cell — in biology
  24. track — to keep track

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