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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. mate — a partner
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pop — soda
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — final
  7. cap — a hat
  8. pop — music
  9. cap — of ice
  10. court — of law
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. cap — a lid
  13. mate — to breed
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. last — finally
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. court — of a king
  20. pitch — completely
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. pop — to visit
  23. mate — a friend
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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