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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. court — of law
  4. wound — an injury
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. ground — the earth
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. rock — a stone
  10. rock — music
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of a king
  14. ground — a position
  15. wound — an injury
  16. fall — the season
  17. shower — rain
  18. scale — in music
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. ground — crushed
  22. fall — to drop
  23. scale — size or range
  24. fall — to drop

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