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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of a king
  3. date — the fruit
  4. cold — an illness
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. pop — soda
  7. court — of law
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. hand — help
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pop — to visit
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. prune — to trim
  17. pop — music
  18. hand — in cards
  19. rule — a law
  20. rule — government
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. prune — to trim
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. leaves — to go away

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