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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. scale — size or range
  14. scale — in music
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. court — of a king
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. game — a match
  19. court — of law
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. game — wild animals
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. ball — a great time
  24. court — for sport

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