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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. land — ground
  3. band — a ring
  4. file — a line of people
  5. prune — to trim
  6. fork — in a road
  7. court — for sport
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. prune — to trim
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. firm — steady
  14. file — a tool
  15. land — a country
  16. firm — decided
  17. land — to come down
  18. file — a document
  19. mine — for digging
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. band — a music group
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. court — of law
  24. firm — a company

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