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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. land — ground
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. land — a country
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pound — a weight
  7. race — the arms race
  8. court — for sport
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. chip — to eat
  12. race — humankind
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. race — a contest
  16. kick — in football
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. cold — an illness
  20. land — to come down
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. court — of law
  24. chip — for betting

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