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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. fine — all right
  4. court — of law
  5. pop — music
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. game — wild animals
  8. staff — employees
  9. spring — the season
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. staff — a stick
  12. fine — high quality
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. game — a match
  17. perch — the fish
  18. staff — employees
  19. pop — soda
  20. spring — of water
  21. court — for sport
  22. spring — a coil
  23. date — the fruit
  24. court — of a king

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