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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. pop — music
  3. wound — an injury
  4. craft — a skill
  5. race — humankind
  6. race — a contest
  7. rush — hurry
  8. pop — to visit
  9. race — the arms race
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. craft — boats
  12. court — of a king
  13. root — of a plant
  14. game — a match
  15. game — wild animals
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. pop — soda
  18. root — of a word
  19. court — of law
  20. wound — an injury
  21. root — the cause
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. rush — a thrill

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