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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. last — finally
  3. spring — the season
  4. last — final
  5. cap — a hat
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. court — of law
  8. court — of a king
  9. cell — in biology
  10. kid — child
  11. club — for golf
  12. club — for dancing
  13. cell — a phone
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. last — to go on
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. cap — a lid
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. spring — a coil
  20. club — a group
  21. spring — of water
  22. court — for sport
  23. cap — of ice
  24. wake — a trail

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