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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 coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. court — for sport
  3. last — final
  4. last — finally
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. swing — music
  7. march — the month
  8. ball — a dance
  9. swing — to play on
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. court — of law
  12. ball — a great time
  13. court — of a king
  14. file — a line of people
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a document
  17. cell — a phone
  18. rash — hasty
  19. cell — in biology
  20. march — the month
  21. rash — a series
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. last — to go on
  24. march — music

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