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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. last — final
  3. last — to go on
  4. march — the month
  5. land — to come down
  6. firm — a company
  7. spell — magic
  8. spell — a short time
  9. court — of a king
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. spell — letters
  12. court — of law
  13. march — the month
  14. last — finally
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. firm — decided
  17. land — a country
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. court — for sport
  22. march — music
  23. firm — steady
  24. bat — the animal

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