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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 120 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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. land — a country
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. court — for sport
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. land — to come down
  8. season — in sport
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. band — a ring
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. cold — an illness
  14. court — of law
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. band — a music group
  18. court — of a king
  19. perch — the fish
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. cold — not warm
  22. land — ground
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. season — of the year

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