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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. cold — an illness
  4. file — a line of people
  5. game — wild animals
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. court — of a king
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. court — of law
  10. swing — in golf
  11. scale — size or range
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. cold — not warm
  15. swing — to play on
  16. game — a match
  17. file — a tool
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. rock — a stone
  20. file — a document
  21. scale — in music
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. rock — music
  24. swing — 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