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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. hand — help
  3. mine — for digging
  4. pop — music
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. current — of water
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. court — for sport
  9. current — happening now
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. hand — in cards
  14. pop — soda
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. court — of law
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. current — electric
  20. court — of a king
  21. deal — to handle
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. pop — to visit

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