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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. land — ground
  4. land — a country
  5. court — of a king
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. bat — the animal
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. bear — the animal
  13. land — to come down
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. rule — government
  19. pass — a permit
  20. rule — a law
  21. court — for sport
  22. court — of law
  23. bear — the animal
  24. pass — to spend time

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