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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 dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. cell — in biology
  3. court — of law
  4. ball — a great time
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. file — a line of people
  7. shower — rain
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. pop — soda
  10. file — a document
  11. shower — to wash
  12. ball — a dance
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cell — a phone
  15. pop — to visit
  16. rule — a law
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. court — of a king
  21. file — a tool
  22. court — for sport
  23. rule — government
  24. pop — music

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