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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. court — of a king
  3. fall — to drop
  4. ground — crushed
  5. bark — to shout
  6. cap — a lid
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. cap — of ice
  9. fall — to drop
  10. ground — the earth
  11. cap — a hat
  12. track — a song
  13. court — of law
  14. track — a path
  15. bound — tied together
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. track — to keep track
  18. court — for sport
  19. bound — obliged
  20. content — the amount
  21. bound — certain
  22. ground — a position
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. fall — the season

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