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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 I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. court — of a king
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cue — for pool
  5. capital — a city
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — after costs
  9. cue — a signal
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. spell — magic
  16. spell — letters
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. court — for sport
  19. spell — a short time
  20. net — in sport
  21. cue — a hint
  22. capital — money
  23. court — of law
  24. capital — a big letter

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