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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. court — of law
  3. mate — a friend
  4. rash — hasty
  5. drill — a practice
  6. court — for sport
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. drill — army training
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. rash — a series
  14. mate — a partner
  15. spring — of water
  16. court — of a king
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. mate — to breed
  19. spring — the season
  20. drill — the tool
  21. cold — not warm
  22. spring — a coil
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. vault — a safe

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