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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 116 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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. tear — from crying
  3. ground — crushed
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — in cards
  6. row — a line
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. prune — to trim
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. ground — the earth
  13. capital — a city
  14. hand — help
  15. capital — money
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. court — for sport
  18. row — to paddle
  19. tear — from crying
  20. court — of law
  21. ground — a position
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. tear — to rip
  24. prune — to trim

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