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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. rock — music
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. court — of law
  5. band — a ring
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. court — of a king
  9. pit — in a race
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. pop — music
  12. root — of a plant
  13. pop — to visit
  14. cold — not warm
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. root — of a word
  17. pop — soda
  18. band — a music group
  19. root — the cause
  20. rock — a stone
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pit — a hole
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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