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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. court — for sport
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. last — finally
  5. spell — letters
  6. court — of law
  7. shower — to wash
  8. spell — magic
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. rule — a law
  13. court — of a king
  14. club — for golf
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. rule — government
  17. club — a group
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. spell — a short time
  20. sharp — clever
  21. last — final
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. shower — rain
  24. last — to go on

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