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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 ________________ went through the wall.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. roll — a cake
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. scale — in music
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. scale — size or range
  10. file — a line of people
  11. court — for sport
  12. court — of law
  13. land — to come down
  14. file — a document
  15. land — ground
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. file — a tool
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. roll — a list
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. land — a country
  22. rush — hurry
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. court — of a king

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