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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. ground — a position
  6. face — to confront
  7. ground — crushed
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. kick — in football
  10. spring — the season
  11. face — to point toward
  12. court — of law
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. spring — a coil
  15. court — for sport
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. spring — of water
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. net — for catching
  20. face — part of the head
  21. court — of a king
  22. ground — the earth
  23. net — in sport
  24. net — after costs

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