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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. rock — music
  5. can — a tin
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. net — for catching
  11. court — of law
  12. net — after costs
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. cold — not warm
  16. court — of a king
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. can — a tin
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. rock — a stone
  22. pitch — completely
  23. net — in sport
  24. court — for sport

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