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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. game — wild animals
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. court — of law
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. squash — to crush
  9. snap — to click
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. court — of a king
  12. chest — a box
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bark — to shout
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. chest — of your body
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. track — a song
  21. game — a match
  22. track — to keep track
  23. track — a path
  24. court — for sport

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