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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. spring — the season
  5. court — of a king
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. tube — the underground
  8. club — for golf
  9. last — finally
  10. tube — a container
  11. spring — of water
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. club — a group
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. spring — a coil
  17. club — for dancing
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. wind — moving air
  20. last — final
  21. court — of law
  22. bark — to shout
  23. last — to go on
  24. patient — a sick person

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