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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. court — of law
  4. court — of a king
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. court — for sport
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. race — humankind
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. race — a contest
  14. root — of a plant
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. race — the arms race
  17. root — the cause
  18. plane — a tool
  19. rash — hasty
  20. rash — a series
  21. cold — an illness
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. bat — the animal
  24. cold — not warm

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