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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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. court — for sport
  3. pop — to visit
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — the season
  7. band — a ring
  8. bat — the animal
  9. ball — a dance
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. fall — to drop
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. court — of law
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. race — humankind
  19. pop — soda
  20. race — the arms race
  21. court — of a king
  22. race — a contest
  23. pop — music
  24. band — a music group

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