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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. spell — a short time
  3. content — the amount
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. fall — to drop
  6. spell — letters
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — not warm
  11. court — of law
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — the season
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. court — for sport
  17. march — music
  18. dip — to sink
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. content — happy
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. spell — magic
  24. content — videos and posts

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