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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. land — to come down
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. prune — to trim
  6. land — a country
  7. cold — not warm
  8. court — of law
  9. dip — to sink
  10. ruler — a monarch
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. court — for sport
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. prune — to trim
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. cold — an illness
  19. shower — rain
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. shower — to wash
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. land — ground

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